


Little Boy Found

by Fanofeverything101



Series: Little Boy Lost [2]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen, Graphic violence for only one or two chapters, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Tracy Family, Secrets, Therapy, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:47:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 45,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24372283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanofeverything101/pseuds/Fanofeverything101
Summary: Months after Alan's rescued from the Hood, he is still struggling to heal from the trauma of the abduction and the trauma of his past that his family is only just learning about. Things take a turn for the worst though when the Hood returns once again for revenge on Alan and the rest of the Tracy family, leaving Alan feeling more lost than ever. *Sequel to Little Boy Lost.*
Series: Little Boy Lost [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1750855
Comments: 46
Kudos: 34





	1. Six Weeks Later

**Author's Note:**

> I’m not a therapist at all, so if the scenes where Alan is talking with his therapist are done wrong, I’m really sorry! I hope you guys like it though!

Alan stared at the clouds that were rolling through the window in the psychologist’s office. It was supposed to be raining this evening, but he wouldn’t be there to see it. He would be back on Tracy Island with his family, safe and sound. The teenager wished that it would rain on the island though. It would match his mood far more than the bright, sunny days they had had for the last couple of weeks.

It had been a little over three months since Alan was rescued from the Hood and while he was now physically fine, he was nowhere near okay. Nightmares still plagued him most nights and he still never truly felt safe, even on the island, even with the Hood back to jail. And he was angry, so angry. He had done his best to hide it, to make sure his family didn’t see how much fury was inside of him, deep under the quiet and subdued attitude he had adopted since he came home from the hospital. It was getting harder and harder as more time passed though, and his Dad and brothers weren’t helping.

The blonde understood that his family had been terrified when he had been kidnapped by the Hood and that they were still very worried about him since he hadn’t really bounced back, but Alan was starting to fell as though he was being smothered to death. He barely had a moment alone. His brothers always came over to either ‘invite’ him to join them in whatever they were doing or suggest a family game or movie night. And if they weren’t doing that, they plainly asked if he was okay and they did that at least three times a day. It made him want to scream his head off, and he almost had several times already, but he managed to keep his mouth shut. He was actually a bit impressed with how much control he had gained over his emotions.

“You’re quieter today. Something on your mind?” The quiet, questioning voice of Megan Brooks, the psychologist Alan had been seeing once a week for the last six weeks drew his attention away from the window.

“Yeah, a bit.” Alan answered quietly, looking down at the floor. Even though this was now his seventh visit, he still felt slightly uncomfortable at times. Whenever he was in Dr. Brooks office, sitting on the couch opposite of her, he felt like he was a specimen being studied and at times, it felt like she could see right through him. He didn’t like that at all. However, he couldn’t deny that she was a really good listener, and was very kind, considerate and non-judgmental. It was why he had found himself slowly opening up to her more and more with each visit.

“Anything you’d like to talk about?” Dr. Brooks asked, staring at him intently and gently.

“Not really.” Alan replied. Just because he was, somewhat, starting to get a little comfortable talking to the psychologist, didn’t mean he was ready to share all that much. Dr. Brooks didn’t look upset, annoyed or frustrated, which Alan was sure his brothers and Dad would be doing by now if it was them sitting across from him.

“What’s the longest it’s ever taken someone to talk about what happened to them? Or can you not tell me that due to patient-confidentiality?” Alan suddenly questioned the doctor, looking up at her. Despite all the sessions he had with her, he hadn’t said much about what he went through when he was kidnapped. The only thing he said was that he had been kidnapped for ransom, which his Dad and the FBI already told her.

“Why do you want to know that?” Dr. Brooks then asked with a slight smile, her eyes full of curiosity.

“Just wondering if it’s normal for, kids who went through something like I went through to not talk about it even though they’re in therapy.” Alan answered.

“It’s completely normal, especially depending on what they all went through.” Dr. Brooks responded. Alan nodded, but didn’t say anything else as he looked down at the floor.

“Have you given any thought to my suggestion of group therapy?” Dr. Brooks wondered, causing Alan to tense up.

During his last session, she revealed that once a month, she led a therapy with all her patients, who were all victims of kidnapping, and asked if he would like to join. The teenager flat out refused. The idea of sitting in a circle with a bunch of other kids who had probably suffered far more than he had, kids he didn’t know or trust and telling them what his kidnappers had done to him, made Alan feel sick to his stomach and gave him an urge to run in the opposite direction as fast as he could.

Wordlessly, Alan shook his head, still keeping his eyes on a random spot on the carpet. The doctor then said, “I do think you should consider it Alan. It can be very beneficial talking to people who’ve been through similar circumstances.”

“Why? So they can judge me and tell me whatever I went through isn’t anywhere as bad as what they went through and I should just get over it?” Alan replied, his quiet voice laced with anger.

“Is that how you always feel? That no matter what has happened to you, good or bad, it isn’t as important as something that happened to someone else?” Dr. Brooks questioned with a gentle tone after a few seconds of thought, hearing what the blonde hadn’t realized he was implying. Alan tensed even more. A part of him wanted to sarcastically remind her that he had four older, successful brothers, but he didn’t. They were getting way too close to topics he didn’t want to discuss, so he kept his mouth shut.

Megan Brooks watched the teenager closely, easily seeing how tense and uncomfortable he looked. He hadn’t been silent throughout their sessions, but we still very close-lipped about his kidnapping, and his family, and anything important. She didn’t mind though. She had had patients far less forthcoming than Alan was. Over time though, he had been opening up more, letting more information slip than he probably knew. She considered that progress. However, the psychologist could tell that he was far too uncomfortable to talk, so she changed the subject.

“You look a little more tired today. Have you been getting enough sleep?” Dr. Brooks asked, though she already knew the answer due to the dark circles that were forming under his eyes.

“Probably not.” Alan quietly admitted, still not meeting her gaze.

“Nightmares?” Dr. Brooks guessed. When Alan didn’t answer, she knew she was right. Seeing an almost shamed expression on his young face, she continued, “It’s perfectly normal if you are.”

“I thought they’d be over by now.” Alan muttered, keeping his head down.

“Well Alan, trauma doesn’t just go away over night.” Dr. Brooks told him, not that she needed to. Alan had enough experience with trauma to know that. That didn’t mean he couldn’t hope though.

As the teenager fell silent once again, Dr. Brooks watched him closely, wondering how she should proceed. She knew that if Alan truly wanted to get better, he had to accept what happened, instead of pushing it down in a deep dark hole. If he did that, it would never truly go away. And she knew that Alan knew that too, she had seen it over their sessions, but from the way he acted, the few things he said, his body language, the psychologist was positive that he was scared to talk about it. Dr. Brooks completely understood that, talking meant remembering, but she had the feeling that something else was going on, something else was holding him back.

Deciding to try something that might make it easier for the boy, she said, “You don’t talk much about what you’ve been through. How about we do something different in our sessions? How about, each session, you tell me one thing? One little detail about what happened while you were held hostage.”

Alan raised his head at that. He gave her a skeptical look before he asked, “Just one?”

“Just one.” Dr. Brooks confirmed. Alan thought it over for a minute. Remembering one thing once a week? Yeah, he could do that.

“They jabbed a knife in my hand. Went all the way through and into the arm of the metal chair I was tied to.” The words came out of the blonde’s mouth before he even knew he was speaking.

Alan had no idea why he chose to reveal that particular detail, his eyes dropping to the scar that was left on his hand. Originally, he had thought he’d just say he was tied to a chair or something, but the knife thing just came out. Maybe it was because his hand was hurting more today. Though the stitches had been taking out a while ago, and had healed, every now and then it still ached, even though the only thing that remained of the injury was the scar.

“That must’ve really hurt.” Dr. Brooks commented with a sympathetic tone. Alan simply nodded.

“Looks to be okay now though.” She added, looking at the hand he was staring at.

“It still hurts to grip things sometimes. Virgil said it’s because the muscles and tissues in my hand are still healing and are scarred. That they’ll always be scarred.” Alan revealed.

“Trauma is a lot like that Alan. After it happens and the physical injuries heal, when you can’t see any physical evidence of it, people assume that it’s gone now and you’re perfectly fine.” Dr. Brooks paused for a brief moment when she saw Alan turn his gaze back to her before she continued, “But underneath that, there’s still a lot of damage and scars there.”

Alan stared at her for minute, the looked back at the scar on his hand and said, “Yeah. You’re definitely right about that.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Scott sat alone in the chair in the waiting area of the psychologist’s office, tapping his foot impatiently as he looked around the room for the millionth time. He tried to distract himself by reading the magazines on the table beside him and by playing on his phone, but the worry wouldn’t leave him. The oldest Tracy son still wasn’t sure how he felt about his youngest brother seeing a psychologist. He wanted Alan to get better, to have all the help he needed, but there was a part of him that hated the fact that his baby brother would feel a lot more comfortable talking to a stranger than his own family. Scott knew it was their own fault though, that they pushed him away. He was still beating himself over that. However, that wasn’t the reason so tense and jumpy.

The week before Alan’s first appointment with Dr. Brooks, their Dad informed him, John, Virgil and Gordon about the phone call from Lady Penelope, the phone call that had everyone freaking out. The Hood had escaped once again. And now, even though over two months had passed, he was still loose. And the police, FBI, CIA, MI6 and Lady P had no idea where he was. That fact alone wanted Scott to keep Alan, all of his family actually, on the island, where they were safe.

Yes, he knew that the very first time the Hood had attacked them, he had invaded the island, their home. Though it had been over a year since it happened, Scott remembered it as though it was yesterday. Being attacked and almost dying alongside your Dad and most of your brothers wasn’t something you’d ever forget.

The brunette remembered how worried he had been when he heard that John was in trouble. Remembered how that worry grew when he saw John’s injuries and how furious and terrified when he realized that they walked right in the Hood’s trap. Above all, he remembered the terror that flooded his entire body when he remembered that Alan was home. His little baby brother was trapped on the island with the man who was trying to kill them all and there wasn’t anything he, or the others could do about it.

_“Dad.” Scott’s voice took Jeff Tracy’s attention away from the computers as he tried to figure out a way out of the situation they were in._

_“What?” The parent asked, looking over at his oldest son._

_“Alan. Alan’s home.” Scott reminded him, then watched as his father’s face pale to a snow-like white. Around them, John, Virgil and Gordon all stopped whatever they were doing as they realized that Scott was right. Their youngest brother was on the island with the Hood and no one to protect him._

While the fear from that had been great, it wasn’t as great as the terror he felt when he learned that the Hood had kidnapped Alan. And the news that the Hood was still out there, having escaped from custody once again, made him fear being on the mainland, especially with his baby brother. Even though the Hood had been free for two months yet didn’t make a move against their family, the Scott knew it was only a matter of time

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a door open. Scott’s head immediately snapped to the side, just in time to see Alan walk out of the office, Dr. Brooks right behind him. The brunette then stood up and was about to walk over to the blonde, but stopped when he saw the psychologist say something to him that was too quiet for Scott to hear. Knowing that he shouldn’t try to eavesdrop, even though he really wanted to, the young man waited until he heard her say goodbye to Alan before he approached the teenager.

“So, how did it go Allie?” Scott asked once he reached the blue-eyed blonde.

“It was fine.” Alan replied in an emotionless tone, something that had become a regular thing over the last several weeks. Scott didn’t push for any more information, though his instincts begged him to. He simply led the way to the exit of the building.

Looking down at his watch, Scott said, “We still have some time before we have to be home. You wanna do anything before we head out, like get some ice cream or something?”

Alan thought for a few seconds, then shook his head as he answered, “No. I just want to go home.”

The brunette wasn’t surprised by his little brother’s reply. He had been very withdrawn since his kidnapping, but it always got worse when they were on the mainland due to the media. Since the abduction of Jeff Tracy’s youngest son was public knowledge, it had been all over the news. However, after he was rescued and returned to the island, the reporters got no information besides that Alan was found and was recovering. They had all forgotten about it once they were home, their sole focus being on the youngest member of their family.

It soon became apparent that no one had forgotten what had happened the first time they came back to the mainland for Alan’s first appointment with Dr. Brooks. A group of paparazzi were waiting for another celebrity when they recognized the boy and immediately bombarded him. When Jeff told them about the Hood’s escape and that they were going to have a security team with them whenever they weren’t on the island, he had said he would tell Alan it was to keep the paparazzi away. Though believable, Scott wasn’t sure that it would that bad. He quickly learned that he was wrong. Despite the help of the security, the damage was done. Alan no longer felt any comfort when there were strangers all around who would recognize him, then proceeded to whisper and watch him as though he was an animal at the zoo.

“Home it is then.” Scott responded, giving Alan a smile as he threw his arm around his brother’s shoulders. The teenager slowly smiled back. It was a weak one, but it was a smile nonetheless, and the nearly 26-year-old took that as a win.

Honestly, Scott was glad that Alan wanted to go back to the island, though he could tell him why. It had been a long, repeated, debate but their Dad firmly ordered that his youngest child was not to know that the Hood escaped. He was scared of how Alan would take the news, scared that he would draw even further away from human contact, scared it would hinder his recovery. The blonde was struggling enough at it was. And to make sure that he wouldn’t find out, Fermat and Tintin were also unaware of the Hood being free. Their parents though, were told.

Scott had a strong feeling that unless the Hood was caught soon, their secret from the youngest was going to come back and bite them, but for now, he took Alan home. Safe from any threats that would dare hurt them.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

It was late when Scott and Alan arrived at Tracy Island. The youngest Tracy son immediately headed off to bed after they landed and though the oldest was also exhausted and wanted to get some sleep, he had a stop to make first. Their father’s office. He didn’t mention it to Alan, but he was pretty sure that the teenager was fully aware that Scott and the rest of his brothers and the other adults on the island were reporting to the Tracy patriarch everything and anything that involved him. Since Alan didn’t seem to care that much, or at least, never said anything about it, and that Jeff was still very worried about him, they continued filling the parent in on everything the noticed about Alan.

“So how did it go today?” Jeff wondered when he saw Scott enter his office. Though he usually stayed up late working, he started doing it purposely on nights when Alan had therapy when the father wasn’t able to take him.

“Okay, I think. You know he never tells us about what he and Dr. Brooks talk about.” Scott answered, sitting down on one of the chairs in front of his Dad’s desk.

Jeff nodded, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he looked as though he was deep in though. Quickly realizing the former astronaut wasn’t going to speak, Scott spoke up, “I know that therapy is a good thing and it’s supposed to help, but I hate the idea that Allie would rather talk to complete stranger than to us, his own family.”

The father gave his oldest a sympathetic and understanding look before he replied, “I don’t either Scott, but we’ve got to think about what’s best for Alan. He needs someone to talk to, someone who’s qualified and knows that the best way to help him. Someone that’s a good listener and he can trust. Right now, that’s not us. I don’t think it has been for a while.”

A few weeks after they brought Alan home, Scott came up to Jeff’s office one night to talk to him, to tell him about a conversation that he had that day with his youngest brother. He told him how apparently Alan feared opening up to his brothers because he though that they would eventually use it against him in some way. He was scared they were going to tease him about it or something like that. And Scott had realized that his brother was right and was broken up about it.

Jeff tried to comfort his oldest, but had a hard time doing it because he too realized that his youngest was completely justified in having that fear. His other sons often teased their baby brother and he knew that at times they went too far, but he never really thought about or noticed the toll it had taken on the young teenager and his relationship with his family. Now, not a day went by that he didn’t see the damage. The way Alan would automatically tense when any member of his family entered the room he was in. While the father knew that a part of it was because Alan was still on edge due to his recent kidnapping and that usually whenever his brothers or Dad saw him, they asked him how he was doing, Jeff noticed that the blonde tensed a lot more when one of them was laughing or seemed angry. It was like he was expecting to either be yelled at or be teased. That was all on them. And when Scott told him about that and he started to see Scott was right, they told the others about it too so they were also aware of it.

It was one of the contributing factors that led Jeff to deciding to talk to Alan about seeing a therapist. He knew that after spending years of unintentionally putting a distance between the youngest Tracy and the rest of the family, by either neglect, teasing and/or just not listening, Alan wasn’t going to open up to any of them. He didn’t trust them and nobody could blame him. So, despite how much it hurt, they all agreed that therapy was the best option. The only real option that they had actually if they wanted Alan to get better. And while that happened, they could work on fixing their relationship with the teenager.

Pulling himself out his thoughts, Jeff looked over at Scott and said, “You should go to bed. It’s late.”

Stifling a yawn, the younger adult nodded and stood up. He wished his Dad a good night, the parent wished him one as well when he did, then left the office, heading straight to bed. It had been a long day and tomorrow probably wasn’t going to be any better. He was going to need all the sleep he could get.

Once Scott was out of sight, Jeff turned around to face another part of his desk, the spot where he kept the framed pictures of his family. He had found himself doing this a lot more than usual, particularly the one with Lucy and all five of their boys the last time they went skiing. Even though it had been over 12 years since his wife died, his heart still ached with grief. Time had eased the pain, but he knew it would never leave. Throughout the last several years, he found himself constantly wishing that Lucy was here, especially now. If she was here, maybe she would be able to help their baby.

Jeff stared at the picture for a few more seconds before he stood up and turned off his computer, ready to call in a night. Then, he walked out of his office, shutting the door and turning off the light behind him. He didn’t go to bed though. Instead, he headed to Alan’s room, wanting to check up on him as he hadn’t seen him for most of the day.

Reaching the door, the parent slowly opened it, wincing slightly when the hinges squeaked. He had been meaning to fix that but he kept forgetting. Jeff continued pushing the door open though and peaked inside. The sight of the teenager peacefully sleeping on his bed made Jeff smile, but then his eyes found Gordon lying on the floor, also fast asleep, with one leg resting on the foot of Alan’s mattress and a hand lying dramatically over his forehead. He had to fight back a laugh when he saw that.

Alan had been having nightmares ever since he came home from the hospital. For the first week or so, the blonde refused to let his brothers comfort him when they tried, but eventually he asked them to stay with him. Ever since then, at least one of his older siblings spent the night in his room. Though the amount of nightmares Alan had went down, enough time had passed that Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon had gone far into overprotective mode that they still had someone spend the night keeping watch over their baby brother.

The former astronaut knew it wouldn’t last much longer though. He could tell his youngest was starting to feel smothered. His brothers hardly ever left him alone, and while it made the parent feel better that Alan was safe someone, the teenager had to be feeling annoyed. For now though, Jeff just smiled, satisfied that his baby was safe, then shut the door and headed to bed.


	2. So Close, So Far

Alan awoke with a scream in his throat, but managed to keep it there so only gasp escaped his lips. Even though his brain was still a little foggy and the nightmare he had woken up from was still fresh in his mind, he knew the last thing he wanted to do was wake whichever brother was in his room for the night. They were smothering enough as it was. When they see him right after having a nightmare, all panicked and terrified, they were much, much worse.

The teenager quickly learned though that his attempt at being quiet was in vain. Before he could fully calm down, he heard Gordon’s concerned voice ask, “Allie? You okay Sprout?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” The teenager automatically answered, though he had no idea if he actually was. Gordon didn’t say anything for a while, apparently letting him calm down which Alan appreciated, though it unnerved him a bit. He wasn’t a fan of having any of his older brothers, or anyone actually, watching him while he tried to keep from having a panic attack, especially since he never really thought he would ever have panic attacks. The last few weeks however proved him wrong.

Gordon waited another few minutes until he was sure his little brother had completely calmed down before he got up to sit on the bed beside the blonde. Putting a hand on the teenager’s shoulder, he asked, “Are you sure?”

“I’m alright. It was just a nightmare.” Alan replied with a nod.

“Do you want to talk about it?” The redhead questioned, even though he already knew what his brother’s response was going to be. Despite how much time had passed, and that Alan was letting them stay with him during the night, he still had yet to open up about what exactly happened to him or what his nightmares consisted of.

“No, I’m okay. What time is it?” Alan wondered, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

Gordon looked over at the clock on the nightstand before answering, “It’s 6:45.”

Alan groaned before he flopped back onto his mattress somewhat dramatically. He hated waking up around this time. Whenever he woke up from a nightmare, he had a hard time falling back asleep. The problem was, that if he woke up in the hours of 5 or 6 in the morning, was that by the he did manage to fall back asleep again, it was time to get up for breakfast. At first, his family let him sleep in but then they started worrying if he was eating enough and were growing concerned at how much time he spent in bed. It made their hovering worse. Yes, apparently that was possible.

“Do want to try going back to sleep?” Gordon asked, seeing the tired expression on his only younger brother’s face. Alan however, shook his head.

“No. I think I’ll just go take a shower.” Alan replied, pushing himself back up. Gordon nodded, but was clearly still very worried about the teenager. Alan elected to ignore it and got off the bed to get some clean clothes before heading into the bathroom connected to his bedroom. He wasn’t sure if the swimmer was still going to be there when he got out or if he was going to report to their Dad and other brothers, but Alan didn’t really care. All he wanted to do was wipe the cold sweat off his body and the nightmare from his mind. Maybe he would feel better and more awake after that.

Gordon watched in silence as the 15, almost 16-year-old, headed in to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him without another word. It was strange. When Alan was kidnapped, the redhead felt completely helpless as he was left on the island with Virgil while their Dad and Scott got to go help with the search. After they found him and came home, Gordon thought he’d be able to help his only younger brother, but no, Alan still kept himself distant from his family. How was it that his brother could be right beside him but feel as though he was on the other side of the planet?

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

The shower worked, somewhat. Alan did feel more alert and awake, but every time he closed his eyes, he could hear the Hood’s voice whispering in his ears, see the criminal’s eyes turn red, feel his fingernails being ripped off. He would have thought the memories would have started fading by now, but no. They were as clear, vivid and detailed as they were when it first happened. The only way to get the memories of his head, if only for a little while, was a distraction. So once he was done in the shower, Alan got dressed and headed downstairs towards the kitchen for breakfast.

Gordon, Virgil and Scott were already sitting at the table, talking amongst themselves while eating the small stacks of pancakes on their plates. He wasn’t surprised that his brothers were up already. Virgil had always been an early riser and since Scott worked at Tracy Enterprises with their Dad, he usually had to get up early to work. John would usually stay up late to study the stars, so he usually got out of bed later, and Gordon would normally sleep until noon but since he was with Alan last night and woke up when he did, his presence didn’t shock him. The one thing that was strange about the sight was that his Dad wasn’t there.

“Good morning Alan.” Onaha greeted with a smile when she saw the teenager enter the room, causing the people at the table to look over at him.

“Morning Onaha.” Alan responded as he took his place at the table by his brothers, instinctively tensing as he felt the calm atmosphere turn to one of worry.

Onaha didn’t seem fazed by it. She just came over with a big grin and gave him his plate filled with her special chocolate chip pancakes. Alan wished his brothers would do that. He hated how they were constantly watching him when they thought he wasn’t looking, talking about him behind his back, treating him as if he was made of glass. All he really wanted was for his family to treat him normally, even if it was only for a little while.

“Where’s Dad?” Alan then questioned before he took a bite of his food.

“He got up earlier and ate already. He had a conference call with the board.” Scott answered.

“He’s probably really ‘board’ by now.” Gordon joked then immediately started laughing even though no one else was.

“Not your best pun Gordo.” Alan told him.

“Yeah man, that was really bad.” Virgil sided with the blonde.

Gordon fake-glare at them, then said, “I’m still way funnier than the rest of you.”

“Just keep telling yourself squid.” Scott replied, giving the redhead a quick and light tap on his back. Gordon then turned his complete attention over to him.

“Watch it Scotty. I haven’t pulled a prank in a while and I’m starting to feel the urge to.” Gordon warned the oldest sibling.

While Alan and Virgil started to get a little worried, knowing how crazy their brother’s pranks could get, Scott looked him straight in the eyes and said, “You do anything to me or my stuff, which includes Thunderbird 1, and you’re dead.”

Even though they all knew Scott wouldn’t actually kill his brother, he spoke with such a serious tone that not only did Gordon audibly gulp, he actually leaned away from the brunette as well. Seeing that, Alan leaned closer to Virgil and whispered, “Why can’t we scare him like that?”

“Because we aren’t the oldest, so we aren’t as scary.” Virgil replied, his voice just as quiet as Alan’s.

After Scott’s threat to the only redhead in the family, the conversation around the table turned back to the normal, happy and light-hearted like it was before. Alan didn’t talk much though. Instead, he just decided to listen to his older brothers’ converse, their topics mostly about what they were all going to do today, stuff going on with Tracy Enterprises and at times, the Thunderbirds. Every now and then, one of his brothers would ask him a question or ask his opinion, but he gave short worded answers, subtly telling them he wasn’t in the mood to talk. If they had done this before his kidnapping, he would’ve basked in the positive attention he was getting, but now, he knew they were only asking because they didn’t want him to be so quiet and the blonde hated that.

“I’m going to find Fermat. See you guys later.” Alan told them once he was done eating. Without giving them a chance to respond, he stood up and walked away.

The three remaining Tracy sons watched their youngest family member leave the room in silence. Once he was gone, Scott turned to Gordon and asked, “How did it go last night?”

“Well, I was already asleep when you guys got home, so I’m not exactly sure when he fell asleep but he woke up gasping at 6:45.” Gordon filled them in on what happened earlier.

“If he fell asleep right when got to his room, he’d have gotten around five hours of sleep.” Scott quickly did the math.

Gordon let out a loud sigh as he lowered his head into his hands, muttering, “I thought he’d be better by now.”

“There’s no timeframe for how long it takes for someone to heal from emotional and mental traumas Gordo. We’ve just got to keep being patient and help when we can.” Virgil tried to comfort his younger brother. With the second youngest Tracy being as energetic as he was, patience was not one of his strong suits, especially in circumstances like this.

Alan was Gordon’s only younger brother. When their Mom, Lucy, told them that she was pregnant with Alan, they were all worried how Gordon would react when the baby came. He was four-years-old and would be five by the time their Mom had their new sibling. He was used to being the baby of the family and no one at all, not even their parents, were expecting that to change. But when Alan was born, Gordon proved to be just as happy and excited as his other brothers. And as the youngest grew, he and Gordon grew closer and closer, pulling pranks and getting into insane amounts of trouble, effectively earning the nickname ‘The Terrible Twos’. The fact that there wasn’t anything he could do to help Alan, the brother he felt the closest to and the most protective of, was frustrating and hurting him more and more as time went on.

“Come on guys. We have work to do.” Scott reminded them before he stood up with his dishes and went into the kitchen to drop them off in the sink. After Virgil and Gordon were done eating, they did the same as their oldest sibling and got to work on their jobs for the day.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Alan quickly found Fermat in Brain’s lab, working on building his own drone from scratch. The blonde helped the younger genius with his project, but since he was nowhere near as smart as Fermat, he mostly just did what his friend asked him or just sat quietly and watched. Alan had helped out with experiments and projects before, but during those times, he was actually excited and interested in what they were doing. He wasn’t like that this time, he hadn’t been like that since he had been kidnapped by the Hood. The older teen also been coming to hang out with Fermat more and more ever since school ended. At first, Fermat though it was because Alan just missed him, but learned that was only part of the reason when he saw just how much attention Alan’s older brothers were giving him and how uncomfortable he was with it.

“Can you hand me the screwdriver Alan?” Fermat asked his best friend as he put down the wrench he was holding before he held his arm out, waiting for Alan to give him the tool he asked for.

When his hand remained empty for several seconds, Fermat looked up from what he was doing to see Alan sitting still in his seat, chin on his fist and a distant looks in his eyes. Fermat frowned a little in concern, then moved to tap his friend’s shoulder as he called out, “Alan?”

The blonde flinched and pulled away from the hand that had startled him out of his thoughts before he looked up at his friend. Immediately he relaxed and said, “Sorry. What did you say?”

“I asked you to pass me the screwdriver.” Fermat repeated his earlier request, hoping Alan couldn’t see the concern he was feeling. Alan never responded well when someone was worried about him. He tended to feel like those who were worried about him seemed to think that it was because they thought he was weak or something. He didn’t really like it when his family babied him either, especially in the last few years as he tried to prove himself.

“Here you go.” Alan said as he grabbed the screwdriver and placed it in Fermat’s still outstretched hand. He took it and continued working but his eyes kept drifting up to Alan. The older teenager had gone back to getting lost in his own thoughts as he mindlessly fiddled the measuring tape.

Once he finished with the screwdriver, Fermat put it down on the table, held out his hand again and asked, “Can you give me the pliers?”

Alan, hearing the younger teen the first time, nodded and started rummaging through the toolbox. Quickly finding what his friend needed, he gripped it, pulled it of the mess but stopped as he lifted it up. The metal shined in the light, drawing Alan’s eyes to it and causing him to freeze as everything around him faded to black.

_Mullion was sitting in front of him, holding up a pair of pliers for him to see. The dim light above them hit the rusty tool, making it shine,_

_“So, have you changed your mind or would you like me to continue?” Mullion wondered, the sadistic grin still on his face._

_“Suit yourself.” Mullion said when Alan kept his mouth shut. Then, he put the pliers onto his finger, forcing one in between finger and fingernail. Without any warning, Mullion ripped the fingernail off and Alan screamed._

“Alan?” The blonde gasped as he was brought back to reality by Fermat’s voice, which was immediately followed by a loud clang. He looked down to see what had made the noise and saw the pair of pliers that the young genius had asked for lying on the table. He must’ve dropped them when Fermat startled him.

Raising his head, Alan found Fermat staring at him, an expression of worry and fear mixed together. He gave him a half smile, just to assure him that he was okay even though he knew it wouldn’t work, then pushed the desired tool towards the brunette and said, “Here you go.”

Fermat instinctively grabbed it, but continued to stare at Alan. When it looked like he was about to say something, Alan quickly beat him to it.

“I better go do some schoolwork. Don’t want to start next year being too far behind.” It was a reasonable excuse to get out of the room before Fermat could ask him what was going on. Since he missed half of the last semester due to his kidnapping and everything that followed. But now that he was doing his best to catch up so he would stay with his classmates. It was still just an excuse to leave though and both Alan and Fermat knew it.

As soon as the older teen was gone, the younger one looked down at the pliers. He stared at it for a long moment before he raised his eyes up to the door Alan had gone through, wondering, not for the first time, what was going on with his best friend.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Jeff did his best to focus on the papers in front of him, but he couldn’t. Usually work was easy to focus on, it was something he would do not only when he had to, but when he also needed a distraction. Tonight though, his brain refused to cooperate with what he wanted. Every time he tried to get through the pile of papers, files and documents on his desk, all he could think about was how stupid his job seemed right now. His youngest son had been kidnapped and tortured only three months ago and was still healing mentally and emotionally. And seven weeks ago, he learned that the Hood, the man who kidnapped and tortured his baby and tried to kill all of them, had escaped custody and there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

Even though so much time had passed the FBI, CIA, MI6 and Interpol still had no idea where the mind-controlling criminal had disappeared to. The trail had gone so cold he might as well be in Antarctica or something. They didn’t even know what continent he was on. Since he had escaped while still in America and the Tracy family were Americans, the authorities were somewhat convinced that the Hood was still in the US, especially considering the lack of evidence that he left the country.

Not long after Penny informed him that the Hood had escaped, Jeff met with Agent Andrew Cardinal to discuss what to do next. Andrew offered to put the entire family into protective custody, knowing there was a very high chance the Hood would go after them again, but Jeff said no. He had no idea how long it would take to catch the man. He couldn’t ask his family to put their lives on hold indefinitely like that, especially since Alan still didn’t know that his abductor was loose. Besides, they lived on a secret island, one hardly anybody know its location. True, the Hood had managed to invade their home before, but he had the help of tracking device. So, unless he had memorized the coordinates or wrote them down and kept them with him for the last year, Jeff was certain their home was safe.

The only time he was worried about his family’s safely was when they went to the main land which was why he had barely let anyone leave the island. The only time they did was when the Thunderbirds were called or when they took Alan to Dr. Brooks. Jeff couldn’t do much to keep his sons safe while they were out on IR business, but he did his very best to keep them safe when they took Alan for his meetings with the psychologist by hiring a full, private security team to accompany them wherever they went. Alan was surprised when he first saw them but accepted Jeff’s explanation that they were there to keep the paparazzi away without question. A part of the father wanted to tell his son the truth of what was going on, but seeing how much he was still struggling, he was scared that the knowledge of the Hood’s escape would derail that. So he kept his mouth shut.

_Ring, ring, ring._

Jeff immediately grabbed his cellphone and looked at the caller ID. Seeing that it was Penny, he let himself feel a tiny bit hopeful that she had some good news for him and answered it.

“Hey Penny. How are you?”

“ _I’m doing well Jeff. How are you?”_ The London field agent asked, her voice cheerful and curious.

“I’m alright. You have any news for me?” Jeff got straight to the point. While he usually loved talking to the woman he considered family, after seven weeks with no information about the Hood, he was desperate.

“ _Unfortunately not. Well, not the kind you are most likely hoping for. MI6 and Interpol are still keeping the Hood on their watch list, but since it’s been so long without any leads, they are no longer going to prioritize finding him.”_

Jeff groaned when Penny finished filling him in and lowered his head into his free hand. He knew that without any leads it was only a matter of time before the authorities gave up the search. There several other serious issues those organizations had to deal with and he couldn’t ask them to put all of that on hold so they could sit around and wait for any sign of the Hood so they could find and arrest him. Too much time had passed. The trail was too cold.

“ _I’m sorry Jeff._ ” Penny apologized, her voice filled with remorse even though it wasn’t her fault.

“It’s okay Penny. I know you did all you could. It’s not your fault.” Jeff replied, though his mind was on the fact that he knew life was about to get a lot more complicated for his family.


	3. Avoidance

Alan sat at the kitchen table with his binders and schoolbooks covering over half of the surface. As much as he hated school, he had found over the last few weeks that it was a helpful distraction. It made him focus on something enough that the memories of how the Hood tortured him didn’t have a chance to surface. Doing his schoolwork gave him a few hours of respite that not even sleep could give him. And when his Dad and brothers say that he was doing schoolwork, they left him alone, not wanting to disturb him unless they had to.

“Hey Sprout. How’s it going?” John asked as he passed his youngest brother on his way to the coffee pot. It was almost 9 o’clock in the evening but he was working on writing another astronomy book and therefore had to be up late to study the stars. He never had to worry about stuff like that when he was on Thunderbird 5 since he could see the stars no matter the time of the day, but since he was on the island for the foreseeable future, he had to be up during the night.

“I’m fine.” Alan replied automatically, keeping his eyes on the assignment he was currently working on.

“I asked how’s it going, not how are you doing.” John clarified with a slight chuckle as he walked over to the table with his cup of coffee. He wasn’t surprised that Alan had misheard him. With everyone constantly asking how he was doing or feeling or if he was okay, he would be so used to saying that he was okay that he wouldn’t even think about his answer.

Alan looked up at him in slight confusion before he realized what John was talking about. Then a sheepish expression came upon his face as he said, “Oh, sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” John told him, sitting down beside his only blonde sibling, doing his best not to disturb everything that was on the table. Putting his cup of coffee down, he asked, “What are you working on anyways? You’ve been doing this all day.”

“Well, I was working on science and math, but now I’m working on English.” Alan answered, briefly looking up at the textbooks that littered the table before going back to his task.

Seeing a book that he assumed was part of the English assignment Alan was working on, John reached out and grabbed it. Reading the title, he saw that it was a copy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare. He remembered having to read that play in school. As a matter of fact, John was sure that everyone in the family had to read it while they were in school. Putting the book back down in its spot, he saw that Alan was looking up something on his phone. John leaned forward and frowned when he saw what was on the screen.

“Are you reading the plot of Macbeth on Wikipedia?” John questioned, a little disappointed but mostly amused.

“Have you ever read Shakespeare?” Alan asked, looking over at him with a frustrated expression. “It makes no sense.”

John chuckled before he said, “Yeah. Gordon had the same problem. Maybe you should go to bed. It’ll probably be easier understand after you rest that brain of yours.”

“I’m not tired.” Alan immediately told him defensively. John simply stared at Alan until he lowered his head a little, looking a tad guilty for his outburst. The astronaut didn’t say anything about that, knowing that he was lying. John was fully aware of how little sleep his brother was getting. Instead of encouraging him to go to bed though, he came up with another idea.

“If you want, you can come up to the observatory with me. I can try to help you understand the play and you can make sure I stay awake.” John suggested.

Alan scoffed, “You’re going to try and help me understand what Shakespeare wrote? Have you read this?”

“I think everyone who’s been in school in North America has read at least one Shakespeare play.” John replied, then grabbed the book and added, “Come on.”

Without another word, Alan grabbed his stuff and followed his second oldest brother up to the observatory. While he wasn’t sure if John could actually help him make sense of William Shakespeare’s work, hanging out with John, the brother he hardly got to see, was usually fun. At the very least, calm and peaceful. Plus, he wouldn’t mind going a few more hours without having to worry about nightmares.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

“Dad? You okay?” Jeff turned around in his chair to find Virgil entering his office with a concerned expression on his face.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Just thinking.” Jeff answered. His middle son however, was clearly not convinced, shooting him a who-do-you-think-you’re-fooling kind of look. Jeff let out a small sigh, then revealed, “Penny called this afternoon.”

Any humour and light-heartedness that was on the medic’s face immediately disappeared and he walked quickly over to a chair across from Jeff’s desk in front of him. As he sat down, Virgil asked, “What did she say?”

“That there’s still no sign of the Hood or his goons. And because there hasn’t been for weeks, the authorities are no longer making the search a top priority.” Jeff filled him in with a dejected tone.

Virgil clenched his teeth and both of his fists but refrained from saying the string of curses on the tip of tongue. Listening to him swear was not what his father needed. Plus, he’d probably get a lecture about it, so instead he said, “Well, considering the lack of leads they’ve had since his escape, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.”

“I was, somewhat, okay with Alan going to the mainland because there was security and because the police, FBI, Interpol and MI6 were still searching for the Hood and his minions. But now,” Jeff broke off, unable to explain the ball of worry weighing heavily in his stomach.

“He’s hardly ever off the island Dad. He only leaves to go see Dr. Brooks and it’s only for a few hours.” Virgil reminded him.

“I know, and when he is gone, all I can do is sit and worry that something is going to happen.” Jeff admitted, looking over at the picture that showed his wife and five children.

After a moment of silence, Virgil asked, “Are you thinking that it’s time to tell Alan about the Hood?”

Jeff’s head snapped back so he could again look straight at his middle. Once their gazes were locked, Jeff said, “If we do that, Alan will realize that we’ve kept this from him. That will make him isolate himself even further. So no, I’m not. He’s still healing from what that monster did to him. Knowing that he had escaped again could set him back.”

“And when the summer is over and school starts up?” Virgil questioned, leaning forward in his chair a little.

“Well, I’m hoping that he’ll be caught before then so Alan will never have to know about any of this. If not, then, that’s a bridge I’ll have to cross when we get there.” Jeff answered honestly. His answer though made Virgil cringe a little inside, knowing that if not handled properly, that ‘bridge’ would be quick to explode. Before he could comment on it, his Dad asked, “What are you still doing up? I would’ve thought you’d be in bed by now.”

“I was looking for Alan. He had been doing his schoolwork in the kitchen for the past several hours but he’s not there anymore. He isn’t in his room either.” Virgil responded. It was his turn to be with him for the night since it was Gordon’s the night before but he couldn’t find the youngest Tracy anywhere. At least, not in the usual spots.

Jeff paled, the ball of worry growing but he forced it down and said, “Let me know when you find him. Then get to bed. It’s late.”

“Will do.” Virgil replied, then stood up and made his way out of his Dad’s office to continue looking for Alan.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

The next few days, Alan continued to find himself somewhat hiding from his brothers and father. Though he had been doing it for a while, even before the Hood had ever entered their lives, he was starting to do it more often now. His brothers were losing their patience. Alan could tell that just by looking at them, especially Scott and Gordon. Whenever they asked how he was doing and he’d say he was fine, he’d see them clench their jaws and see the frustration in their eyes. He was actually surprised they hadn’t said anything about it yet.

It wasn’t anger that Alan saw when John and Virgil asked though. Virgil, he’d get this sad and concerned expression on his face. It was as though he felt sorry for him and thought he needed fixing. Alan sometimes wished the family medic/musician/painter gave him the angry and frustrated response Scott and Gordon did. At least he knew what to expect when his brothers got angry at him. John however, reacted completely different than their siblings.

John was always calm, peaceful and patient Tracy. Alan couldn’t remember ever seeing him angry, at all. As far as he knew, John had never been angry a day in his entire life. He never seemed to get impatient either. Whenever John asked Alan how he was, he always accepted his answer even though Alan was sure that he didn’t believe him and he never saw anger or frustration in John’s eyes. Pity, occasionally, but that was it.

Because of that, the teenager didn’t mind being around John like he did his other siblings. And when he offered to help him with his homework, he was actually able to help him understand Macbeth. He also didn’t try to convince him to go to bed in spite of the late hour, even when Virgil found them. John told their brother that Alan was fine with him and that he’d go to bed when he was done. Of course he said it in such a way that Virgil didn’t fight him on that. That action alone told Alan that he could hide in the observatory with John when he needed some space. Plus, if he was with a sibling, the rest of the family wouldn’t check up on him as much.

Right now though, he was in Brains’ lab again with Fermat. John was sleeping in again, his Dad and Scott were busy working on Tracy Enterprises stuff, Virgil was working on a new painting and Gordon was in the pool. He should be safe from anyone coming to check on him for a while.

“Wrench please.” Fermat said, holding out his hand though his goggle-covered eyes stayed on the half-built drone on the table in front of him.

“Right here.” Alan replied, putting the tool in the young genius’s hand then asked, “So how long until it’s done?”

“As long as the co-copper wires work, should be done by Sa-Sa-Sa, end of the week.” Fermat answered, still maintaining his focus.

“Any projects after?” Alan wondered, looking around the lab to see if he could figure out what his friend could be up to.

“I was thin-thinking of trying out some pro-pro-p, assignments from the school syllabus for next year.” Fermat told him, then raised his head to look at him quizzically and asked, “Why?”

“I was just wondering. Actually, I was thinking about how cool it would be if we had two of these. Then we could race them or something.” Alan answered, gesturing to the nearly-finished drone.

“Th-that would be f-fun.” Fermat agreed with a nod. As he turned his gaze back to the drone though, he quietly added, “You can’t avoid your f-f-f, Dad and brothers forever.”

“They’ll get the hint eventually.” Alan replied defensively, his entire body tensing up as he realized where Fermat was leading the conversation.

“They got th-the hint a while ago, but the more you push them away, the mo-more w-w-w, concerned they will be.” Fermat said, looking up at his friend from the corner of his eyes.

“You sure about that? It’s worked before, for pretty much my entire life.” Alan scoffed, turning his gaze down to his fingers as memories, some still a little recent, flooded his mind.

“True, but now they know what you’re doing, so t-they know not to let you keep doing it.” Fermat responded.

“Yeah, but for how long? How long until it all blows over and I’m ignored again?” Alan wondered. Fermat paused, trying to think of an answer, knowing and understanding what the blonde was talking about. He stayed quiet though when he was unable to come up with any kind of answer.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

“Hey Dad. You wanted to see me?” John announced himself doorway of his father’s office.

“Yes. Come in, and close the door behind you.” Jeff said, waving his second oldest in.

John did what he was told, then walked over to the office couch where his Dad was sitting. As he sat down on the couch opposite of Jeff, he asked, “So, what’s up?”

“I was wondering how Alan’s doing. I know he’s been spending a lot of time with you over the last few days, just wanted to know if he’s said anything or if you’ve noticed anything?” Jeff answered, feeling a little guilty that he was even asking this. He was just desperate to know how his youngest son was doing and he couldn’t think of anything else to do.

“Not really. He’s pretty quiet with me, at least about how he’s doing. When he’s with me, he’s usually just doing his homework. I help him when he asks, and we sometimes talk about that. Other times we just talk about what I’m working on, or something random like sports or something. He does seem more relaxed though.” John responded, not giving much details. While his baby brother still kept quiet about how he was feeling or how he was doing, John was beginning to feel that he and Alan were getting closer, something that he hadn’t felt in years. He’d want to risk ruining that.

“Well, at least he’s starting to relax around someone.” Jeff commented quietly, eyes downcast.

“Dad, Alan hasn’t really opened up to anyone in years. Us getting impatient with him is just going to make it worse.” John told him, his voice calm like it usually was.

“I know.” The Tracy patriarch replied, a slight bitterness in his tone.

Jeff was fully aware of how his youngest had isolated himself from almost everyone on the island besides Fermat and more recently, Tintin. However, it wasn’t until last year, when the Hood attacked Thunderbird 5 and invaded their island that he became aware of it. Looking back on it, Jeff realized he couldn’t even tell when Alan had started to pull away from his family. When Lucy died, Jeff ended up throwing himself into his work, putting a lot of distance between him and his sons. He got better and repaired his relationship with his four oldest sons, but not his youngest. Too much time had passed and Alan showed that he had inherited the Tracy stubbornness. Added with the fact that he was a teenager desperately wanting to be treated like an adult, it made things worse. Jeff didn’t know what to do or how to reach him. He still didn’t.

“You know, at the rate he’s going with his schoolwork, he’ll be all caught up with his class pretty soon. You’re going to have to talk to him about the next school year.” John’s voice broke Jeff out of his reverie.

“I don’t want him to go to another boarding school with the Hood still on the loose. It’s too dangerous. If the authorities haven’t found and arrested him by the time school starts up again, I’m going to have Alan take his classes by correspondence, like Tintin.” Jeff informed the younger astronaut.

“You can’t keep him locked up on the island for the rest of his life Dad. He’s going to want to leave eventually. And he deserves to know about the Hood.” John said.

Jeff didn’t say anything. He didn’t even look at him. Knowing that this part of the conversation was over, John changed the subject.

“I was thinking, that since Alan seems to be okay with being around me, maybe I could take him to see Dr. Brooks this week.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Mention it to him, see if he’s cool with it first though.” Jeff told him. Ever since Alan started seeing the therapist, the only people who would take him were Jeff or Scott so far.

John nodded in agreement before he stood up. He walked over to the door and reached for the handle, but didn’t turn it. Instead, he looked back over at his Dad and said, “I know you want to protect him Dad, but he deserves to know the truth. If he finds out the truth, and learns that we knew and didn’t tell him, it could ruin any bit of trust he has in us.”

The blonde didn’t wait for any kind of response. He just opened the door and walked out of the office, leaving his father to think over his words. Jeff continued staring at the door long after he was gone. He knew that John had a point, but Jeff wasn’t going to let it come to that. He had to protect Alan and that included keeping him ignorant about the Hood’s escape.


	4. Not Okay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I’m back with another chapter! Again, just a reminder, I’m not a therapist, so if there’s anything wrong in this chapter, I’m sorry. Hope you guys like it though!

“You ready for your next appointment with Dr. Brooks?” Tintin asked as she walked along the beach with Alan, holding his hand tightly in hers.

“I guess so.” Alan mumbled.

“Do you not like talking to her? If you don’t, I’m sure that your Dad could find another therapist for you to see, one you’re more comfortable with.” Tintin said, seeing the uneasy expression on her boyfriend’s face.

“No, it’s not that. She’s really nice.” Alan quickly replied. Seeing the questioning expression on her face, Alan explained, “It’s just, it’s a little weird, talking to her, a stranger, about things I won’t talk to my Dad or brothers about. And when I don’t talk, she sits and waits for me to do or say something. She’s really patient, but it feels like she’s studying me or something.”

“That would be unsettling.” Tintin agreed, then asked, “Would rather talk to your family about it instead?”

“No, not really. I don’t even know how to talk to them. It’s not like we’re close. We haven’t actually seriously talked in years. If the Hood never attacked us, if he hadn’t have kidnapped me, they wouldn’t be wanting me to talk to them, wanting me to spend time with them. They haven’t wanted anything to do with me since I was a kid.” Alan told her, his voice quiet but filled with anger and a little bit of pain.

“I know that you and your family have your issues, and your family suck at showing it, but they love you. They always have.” Tintin responded, her own voice quieting.

Before Alan could say anything, his watch started beeping. He lifted his arm to check the time and groaned. Looking back at Tintin and said, “I gotta head back to the house. John and I have to go.”

“John’s going with you?” Tintin questioned. As far as she knew, only Scott and Mr. Tracy took Alan to therapy.

“Yeah. He asked and since he’s the one brother who hasn’t been hovering all over me, I said okay.” Alan told her.

“Well, then maybe this appointment will be better than the others.” Tintin said with a smile.

“Maybe. I’ll see you later.” Alan replied.

“You bet.” Tintin gave him a quick peck on his cheek before Alan turned around and walked back up towards the house.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

“How are you feeling today Alan?” Dr. Brooks asked once they had already said hello and sat down in their respective spots. She asked this question at the beginning of almost every session.

“Okay, I guess.” Alan quietly answered.

Today was one of those days where he wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk or not. Since the last time he saw Dr. Brooks, he had been thinking about what he wanted to talk about with her. Last time, she asked him to tell her just one thing while the Hood held him prisoner each session and he had sort of agreed. He then quickly realized that if he could pick a detail to tell her ahead of time, then he could tell her right at the start of their session and it’s over and done with. But he soon remembered why had been trying so hard to not think about his captivity, so he stopped. Now, he had no idea what to tell her or if he could talk about something else.

“From your tone, it sounds like you’ve been using that word a lot.” Dr. Brooks observed.

“A bit, yeah. It’s probably the word I use the most actually.” Alan admitted.

Megan Brooks felt her brow furrow slightly at Alan’s words. He said that word ‘okay’ was the one he uses the most. Though she might be reading a little too much into it, she found it strange that he didn’t say that it was the word he used lately. It implied that he had been telling people he was okay when he really wasn’t for a lot longer than the last few months while he recovered. And the way he had talked about his family, limited as it was, made Megan feel that she was correct in her observation.

“And how often are you actually being honest when you tell people that?” the therapist wondered with a gentle tone.

The blonde immediately stiffened up, lowered his head and stayed quiet. The sight of the boy closing himself off so tightly broke Megan’s heart. No child should look like that. Quickly deciding to push the issue, she said, “It’s okay to not be okay Alan.”

“But I have no reason to not be okay!” The words burst out of Alan’s with such a frustrated and angry force than he had ever expressed before. Suddenly realizing how his voice sounded, he looked up at Dr. Brooks just in time to see her stunned expression turn to one of concern.

“I mean, I have no reason to not be okay. The man who kidnapped me is in jail, my injuries are healed, my family is safe and so am I.” Alan insisted, his tone still a little frustrated though much quieter. But it was even more quieter and dejected when he added, “So, so why don’t I?”

Instead of answering, Dr. Brooks asked a question.

“Alan, when was the last time you truly felt okay?”

The teenager thought for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know. Christmas break I guess.”

After the Hood had attacked the island and was arrested, Alan finally felt like he was a part of the Tracy family. When he went back to school once spring break ended, he was terrified of coming home and finding that he was wrong. That he’d be ignored once again by his Dad and his brothers would continue to treat him like crap. To his surprise and delight, when he came home for the summer, it wasn’t like that at all. His Dad paid attention to him, his brothers didn’t tease him as much and he got to start his Thunderbirds training alongside Fermat and Tintin. And Christmas break was about the same though more festive due to the holiday. It wasn’t until the next spring break started to approach that things went downhill.

“And when was the last time you truly felt happy? Like everything alright in your world?”

The youngest Tracy had to think about that for a minute. Sure, there had been times he felt happy throughout his life. Of course he did. But even during these times, there had always been a sense of dread inside of him. Even when his Dad told him that he could start his Thunderbirds training, that he had earned it, he felt like it was too good to be true. That something was about to go horribly wrong. It’s what always happened with him. Things would be terrible and life would suck, then it would start to get better only for it to somehow become worse. That’s how it had been ever since he was a little kid.

“Before my Mom died.” Alan answered, his voice barely above a whisper. He also kept his head down so he wouldn’t see the pity-filled expression that was undoubtedly covering his therapist’s face.

“You were three years old when she died?” Dr. Brooks said with a questioning tone, wanting to make sure she had her facts right. She waited until Alan nodded before she asked, “How much do you remember before the avalanche happened?”

“Not much. It’s more, like a feeling. I remember being happy, and safe, and loved.” Alan replied, his blue eyes focusing on a small, brown stain on the white carpet. Probably caused by a spilled coffee.

“You haven’t felt any of that since she died?” Dr. Brooks sounded a little shocked and extremely saddened by that.

Alan stayed quiet for another few seconds, thinking of how best to explain himself, then said, “I felt loved, and safe around my brothers. They were there for me, took care of me after our Mom died. Especially Scott. But our Dad, I’d be lucky if I got a glimpse of him walking out of the house on his way to work. He stayed as far away as possible from all of us after Mom died. He didn’t even come see me when I was in the hospital right after the avalanche.”

He immediately snapped his mouth shut, teeth snapped together loudly. He hadn’t meant to say that part. Not to Dr. Brooks, not to anyone. As far as his family knew, he had no memories about that day or the weeks that followed. After all, he had a cracked skull and massive concussion at the time, along with being only three years old. How could anyone remember what all happened with that? But somehow, Alan did and since no one wanted to remember that day, he never told anyone, and if it was ever somehow brought up, he simply pretended he didn’t remember.

It was too late to take it back though, or change the subject. He could tell from the look in the woman’s eyes that she wanted to know more. The question now was, should he continue to keep his mouth shut, or should he finally confess his most guarded secret?

“What do you all remember of that day?” Dr. Brooks asked, her tone making it clear that she was well aware she was approaching a touchy subject.

“Pretty much all of it.” Alan responded, then corrected himself, “The important parts anyways. Some I can’t recall, some only a little, but others… I remember as if it was yesterday.”

The therapist didn’t say anything for a minute. Staring at her face, Alan wondered if this happened a bit. If her other patients had issues in their lives that hand nothing to do with their kidnapping that were brought up and discussed. Probably. Everybody had problems after all, whether they were rich, middle-class or poor. Maybe everybody should be in therapy. That might help make the world a better place, because then, people would know who to fix their problems and how to cope with issues rather than taking it out on everyone else.

Still watching Dr. Brooks, Alan realized that she wasn’t going to say anything. She was waiting from him to talk. To either tell her about that day or to change the subject. He knew of course that he could just stay quiet for the remainder of the hour and then hope that next week she doesn’t bring it up, but Alan was starting to feel a desire to talk about it. This wasn’t the first time that he had felt that, but this was the first time that someone was willing to listen, unlike his family.

“You won’t tell my Dad?” Alan hesitantly asked.

“Patient confidentiality Alan. Unless it has to do with something endangering your life, I’m sworn to secrecy.” Dr. Brooks assured him.

Alan stared at her, wondering if she was telling the truth. Seeing that she seemed to be sincere, he decided to finally talk about that day.

“I don’t really remember that morning, but I do remember being out on the slopes. My Dad and brothers had already gone down, so it was just me and Mom. She wanted me to get on her skis so I could ride down with her, but I was scared. It looked so steep. Then, we heard a really loud rumble, from above that seemed, to vibrate under us.”

The blonde paused, already remembering that day so vividly it was like he had gone back in time to that day. He took a deep breath, mentally bracing himself for the onslaught of memories that he knew would be coming, then continued.

“I looked up and saw the wall of snow starting to come towards us. My Mom yelled for me to got on the skis. I didn’t move though. I didn’t know what was happening. She then grabbed me and told me to hold on tight, so I did. I wrapped my arms around her neck and my legs around her waist and she started skiing downhill. We didn’t make it that far.”

He needed to stop again, feeling tears already starting to well up in his eyes and his chest starting to tighten. Alan glanced over at Dr. Brooks, hoping that maybe she’d stop him. While she looked very sympathetic and patient, she didn’t look like she was going to stop him. He was pretty sure that if he wanted, he could stop and she wouldn’t be upset or order him to keep talking or anything like that, but that desire he felt to talk had gotten stronger. So he took another few deep breaths before he kept telling her what he remembered.

“The snow hit us, hard enough to actually throw us into the air. We smacked into a tree. I hit it with the back of my head and passed out. When I woke up, me and Mom were in this like, pocket, hole or something in the snow, completely covered. I was still kinda wrapped around my Mom, there wasn’t any space to move it I tried. I didn’t, but my Mom was. She had one arm around me, but her other arm was kinda raised above her head. She was trying to dig us out.

“I started crying when I woke up. My head was really hurting, so was my arm and chest. Didn’t know it at the time, but I had cracked my skull, broke my arm and five ribs. My Mom tried to calm me down, said that everything was going to be okay, that we were going to get out. I told her that I was hurt. She said ‘I know Allie, but we need to be brave right now. Can you do that?’ I nodded and tried to stop crying, and she started digging again. After a few minutes, she stopped.”

Tears were now running freely down Alan’s cheeks. He didn’t have the restraint to stop them. All of it was being used to breathe as calmly and normally as possible instead of breaking down sobbing. When he started talking, it was like a small hole in a dam holding back the entire ocean. Then it started getting bigger and bigger. He knew that it was only a matter of time before it was destroyed completely.

“Here.” Alan looked up at the sound of Dr. Brooks’ voice to see that she was holding a box of Kleenex out to him.

“Thanks.” He mumbled, taking the tissues from her and used them to wipe his eyes and nose. Once he was done and felt more in control, he kept going.

“She was having a hard time breathing. She started coughing up blood. I started crying again, but this time because I was scared. She smiled, told me again that everything was going to be okay. Then, she said that she loved me and to remember that, no matter what happens. I told her I would, and that I loved her too. She then held me tightly. After a few minutes, she stopped breathing. I turned my head to look at her face, and saw her eyes were still opened. She didn’t blink, didn’t move, even when I tried shaking her and begged for her to wake up. When she still didn’t, I hugged her again and eventually passed out as I cried.

“When I woke up, I was in the hospital, surrounded by machines. Scott, my oldest brother and our Grandma was there with me. It took a few more days until they told me that I had been in a coma for three weeks, and Mom was dead. It had taken them hours to find us under the snow. For the rest of my stay at the hospital, which was another two weeks, I saw countless doctors, nurses, my brothers and my Grandma, but not my Dad.”

“He didn’t come see you at all?” Dr. Brooks sounded a mix of disbelief, shock, and a bit of broken heartedness.

Shaking his head, he replied, “Unless he came and saw me when I was comatose or asleep, no, he didn’t. I didn’t even get a glimpse of him for almost a month after I was released from the hospital.”

“You must’ve asked someone what was going on? You were only three. I imagine you were confused.” Dr. Brooks wondered.

“I asked Grandma why he wasn’t around, why he was ignoring us. She said that he was sad and missed Mom, so he didn’t want to be around people. I believed her. Then slowly, he started to be around more. He started paying more attention to Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon, but not me. I did everything I could, behaved as best as I could, did my best in school, but nothing worked. Even when we moved to the island.

“But then, I disobeyed Scott and went to the beach by myself. I wasn’t allowed to do that at the time, I was too young, and I got lost in the woods. Dad found me, and for the first time in five years, he actually looked at me. He made sure I wasn’t hurt, took care of me when I got a cold because of how long I was lost. It was like I had a real Dad again. After that, he was a little more attentive to me, but still not as much as he was to my brothers. It was then I realized that if I wanted his attention, I had to do something bad, like fail a test or do something against the rules, or something dangerous. So when I really wanted his attention, that’s what I did. How pathetic is that?” Alan asked. He had always known why he acted out, but this was the first time he realized just how stupid it was.

“Believe it or not Alan, lots of kids who have parents that have the tendency to be extremely busy or are just neglectful act out in that way.” Dr. Brooks responded.

Alan stared at her a minute, then asked, “So, what now? What does my Mom’s death have to do with any of this?”

“Well, you said that the last time you felt happy was before her death. I assume you want to feel happy again, don’t you?” She responded kindly.

Alan nodded, but then said, “I don’t think I will be though. Once I’m ‘recovered’, my family will go back to ignoring me. That’s what they always do.”

“Maybe. Or maybe this time will be different.”

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

“You alright Allie?” John asked his little brother who was sitting beside him in the back seat of the black SUV, looking out of the tinted window. Alan had been silent ever they left Dr. Brooks’ office and had a distant look in his eyes. It was starting to worry the older blonde.

Slowly, Alan turned his head in John’s direction but still kept his gaze on the floor and said, “You know how you guys keep telling me that you’re here if I want to talk?”

“Yeah.” John replied, trying to keep his voice and facial expression neutral even though he really wanted to smile. After weeks of waiting for Alan to open up to them, he finally seemed ready to.

“Well, I was wondering,” Alan paused for a moment, trying to think of what to say exactly but he didn’t a chance to finish his sentence because at that moment, guns started going off.

“Get down!” John yelled as he threw off his seatbelt. Alan copied his actions and once he was free, John grabbed him and pulled him to the floor of the vehicle, covering him with his own body. The windows were bulletproof but he wasn’t taking any chances with his baby brother’s life.

Alan stayed under the protection John gave him, his entire body shaking with fear. The sound of guns firing was getting louder as the security guards his Dad had hired for them whenever they came to the States started shooting at whoever was firing at them. He had been in some very dangerous situations in the last year or so, but he never imagined he’d be in the middle of a gun fight. But, why were they being fired at?

After what was probably only a few minutes, though it felt like a lot longer than that, the guns went silent. There were some shouts from people and Alan was pretty sure he could hear the sound of sirens approaching, which made sense because they were still in the city, but he didn’t more. Not until one of the body guards ask, “Are you two alright?”

“Yeah, yeah we’re okay.” John answered him, sitting up so he could look at the guard’s face.

With John moving, Alan was able to also sit up, giving him a chance to look around. The windows and windshield were littered with bullet holes and cracks though none of them had shattered, luckily. He turned his gaze to stare out the windows to see who had attacked them and felt his blood turn to ice when his eyes landed on an all too familiar face.

“Alan? Allie, are you okay?” John asked, putting his attention back on the younger blonde. He didn’t respond which started to worry him, but then he saw what Alan was staring at. It was Mullion, one of the Hood’s goons who helped him invade Tracy Island, the one who kidnapped Alan from the school, the one who helped torture him and one of the ones who had escaped prison. He was now on the ground and was being restrained by the guards, but he was staring at their SUV. It was a though he was staring through the dark windows right at Alan’s face even though John knew that was impossible.

“No, no I’m not okay.” Alan finally answered, turning his head to the side to look at John, and with eyes filled with fury, he demanded, “What the h*ll is going on?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know that the odds that Alan would remember the avalanche that clearly is pretty slim given his injuries, but from my understanding, when someone goes through something extremely traumatic, their brain either blocks it out in an attempt to protect themselves, or they remember it extremely clearly. And even if it was blocked out and did occur when that person was young, eventually it would start coming back. I thought that given how traumatic it was, Alan was able to remember it. Maybe not at first, but once he had healed from his injuries, then yes the memories came back. Hope you guys liked this chapter! See you all next week!


	5. Backwards

Jeff ran down the hall of the New York Police Department as though he was being chased by wild animals. Scott, Virgil and Gordon followed right on his heels. The only thing that stopped them from getting in front of their father was the fact that there wasn’t enough space in the hall to do so. The other people in the hall, mostly cops, quickly got out of the way so the family could get to their two missing family members. It was a good thing they did because if they didn’t, they would’ve been run over.

They soon came to an open area filled with desks, chairs and several more police officers. The attention of the four Tracy’s was immediately drawn to the two blondes sitting in the chairs along the wall on the other side of the room.

“Alan! John!” Jeff shouted once he saw his two other sons, finally feeling the panic that had been overwhelming his entire body start to dissipate. John’s head snapped over to them when he heard his name being called, but Alan barely glanced at them.

“Are you two alright?” The father asked as he rushed to their side with Gordon, Virgil and Scott.

“Yeah Dad, we’re okay.” John assured them before looking worriedly over at Alan. Positive that John wouldn’t lie to him in a situation like this, not that John was the type to lie anyways, Jeff allowed himself to relax a little more as he examined them both.

They didn’t look injured at all, no sign of blood or bruises which was a great relief to the former astronaut. Besides their skin being a bit paler than normal, probably due to shock, and haunted look in John’s eyes, they seemed perfectly okay. Well, John did. Alan on the other hand, Jeff couldn’t really tell. He was sitting right beside his second-oldest brother, his feet up on the edge of his chair and arms wrapped around his legs, looking completely closed off. And even though John was sitting beside him, he didn’t make any move to comfort the youngest Tracy.

“Alan?” Jeff tried to get the teenager’s attention, putting a hand on Alan’s knee. The second physical contact was made, Alan flinched violently away from his Dad, who immediately pulled his hand away. While he had gotten a lot better at being touched after his kidnapping, at times he still shied away from it, so Jeff wasn’t as taken aback as he would’ve been a year ago.

“Sprout, you alright?” Scott asked, seeing the whole exchange and getting worried about Alan’s lack of response.

“The Hood and his minions escaped and none of you thought to tell me?” Alan’s voice was quiet but filled with anger as he finally raised his blue eyes to glare at his Dad and oldest brother.

Everyone winced at the harshness in Alan’s voice as guilty expressions appeared on their faces. Even though they had all, to some degree, agreed that he didn’t need to know about the criminals escaping custody, they felt bad at leaving him in the dark, especially as so much time had passed with no new information on the case. Logically, Jeff knew that he would have to tell his boy soon despite how much he didn’t want to, but he never imagined that he would find out this way. After weeks of no sign of the Hood, Jeff had been hoping, praying that he just ran, that he would leave his family alone. He should’ve known that they wouldn’t be that lucky.

“Allie,” Jeff stopped, unable to think of anything to say that would help the situation.

“Jeff?” The Tracy patriarch turned his head and saw his friend, FBI Director Andrew Cardinal standing in the doorway of the Chief of Police’s office, “Can we talk for a minute?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right there.” Jeff told him before looking back at Alan. The teenager however had turned back to stare at the ground, so he looked to his other sons and said, “You boys stay here. I’ll be back.”

He waited until he saw his boys, minus Alan, nod in acknowledgement and agreement, then he stood up and walked into the office, closing the door behind him. Once he was there, he saw that the police Chief was in there too. He didn’t get a chance to say anything though because Andrew apparently wanted to get straight to work.

“I know you said you don’t want to go into protective custody Jeff, but you should. The Hood’s made a move on your family, making it clear that you are his target and that he doesn’t care he’s a wanted man.”

“Andrew, my sons and I have jobs, lives. We can’t just up and hide. You have no idea how long it will take you to find him and we’ll be safe on our island.” Jeff responded.

“Jeff, he’s already attacked your island. It probably wouldn’t be hard for him to do it again. And if he does, it would be hours before any law enforcement could get out there to help.” Andrew pointed out. That was when the Chief of Police chimed in.

“Mr. Tracy, we’ve got the entire city on lockdown. If the Hood’s partners were here, then odds are he is too. And now that we’ve arrested some of his goons, we can get them to flip on him. You and your family wouldn’t be in protective custody for long.”

Jeff wanted to yell at the Chief, ask him if he was an idiot but he didn’t. After the Hood was arrested, the higher authorities were told about his powers. They needed to know so they could take every precaution when it came to putting him in a cell, not that they did apparently, but no one else was told. The last thing anyone wanted was for the media to learn that there was a criminal with telepathic and telekinetic powers. That would make everyone freak out, especially when he escaped from custody. That reason, and only that reason, kept Jeff’s mouth shut. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t have all the information.

“At the very least Jeff, you should go somewhere safe, somewhere you and your family don’t go very often, if ever. Somewhere that doesn’t have your name attached to it. Maybe even somewhere in a different country.” Andrew told the millionaire. Jeff turned his head to stare at his friend for a few seconds, then sighed and lowered his body into one of the chairs in front of the Chief’s desk.

Andrew also let out sigh before he sat in the chair beside Jeff and said, “I know the thought of just running and hiding feels wrong and impossible, especially given your job and your popularity but you need to think of your family’s safety. It is always better to be safe than sorry.”

For a long moment, the room was quiet. Jeff knew that the Director was right, that his sons’ safety was all that mattered, but it wasn’t fair to rip them away from their lives. And no one even knew how long it would take to find the Hood. He had escaped months ago and besides the appearance of his minions, there was still no sign of him. And before all of this happened, he was a high-powered criminal in Malaysia for years. It could take just as long, maybe even longer before he was found and Jeff couldn’t make his sons hide for that long. But at the same time, he couldn’t leave them unprotected. That’s when an idea started forming in his head.

“I think I know where we can go. Not protective custody, but somewhere my family will be safe.” Jeff revealed, looking up at the two law officials.

Andrew and the Chief exchanged glances for a few seconds, then they both looked back at him and Andrew asked, “Where?”

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

14 hours later, Jeff found himself with his sons in the back of a large vehicle while Parker, Penny’s butler, drove them to her estate outside of London. It was her place that came to his mind when he was talking with Andrew the Chief of Police. As an undercover agent, she had the best security, she wasn’t in the States and despite knowing her for years, the Tracy family had never actually been there before. And since they used their own airplane at a private airport with no one else there, only the law enforcement knew where they were. While that was one problem somewhat dealt with, another one, one far more important to him, sat in the very back of the car, doing his best to ignore everyone around him.

Alan had not said a word ever since they left the police station and it was scaring him. The only other time Jeff remembered his youngest being so silent was right after he was rescued from the Hood. And though he wasn’t physically hurt, it was still very unsettling and he knew it was his fault. He was the one who made the decision to not tell Alan about the Hood’s escape and now that he knew they were all aware of it and agreed to keep it a secret from him and now he wasn’t speaking to any of them. He wondered if being in shootout had also scared him into silence. Well of course it would’ve been terrifying for him. That made Jeff wonder if he could maybe have Alan have a session with Dr. Brooks over video conference or something. If the last several months proved anything, it was that he was totally unequipped to deal with all of this.

“We are approaching the estate Master Tracy. We will be there in approximately two minutes.” Parker’s voice interrupted the awkward silence. His announcement had every Tracy peering out the windows for a glimpse of the aristocrat’s house.

The house was huge. It shouldn’t even be called house. It was like a mansion, no, like a castle. A small castle but a castle nonetheless. Considering Lady P’s style though, they shouldn’t have been surprised. The lawn was filled with all kinds of flowers but they were all pink. There were even some trees that seemed to have pink petals, if that was possible. That was all they managed to see before the car came to a stop in front of the building.

Still in shock over the size of the place, the Tracy family along with Parker exited the vehicle and went around to the trunk to get their bags. Once they got them, they were led up the stairs and into the mansion. Penelope was quick to arrive in the foyer.

“Hell boys. Welcome to my home.” She greeted with a wide smile as she approached them.

“Thanks so much for this Penny.” Jeff told her as he gave her a quick hug.

“Of course Jeff. I had been meaning to have you all over for years. As terrible as the circumstances are, at least you are finally here.” Penny replied before turning back to her other guests.

“How are you all doing?” She wondered with a gentle and concerned voice.

“We’re fine Lady P. Just tired.” Scott answered.

“Of course you all are. You’ve had a long night and flight. Parker will show you to your rooms where you can get some rest before supper.”

“Thanks Lady P.” John said with a grateful smile. Then the five Tracy sons followed Parker out of the foyer and further into the house.

Once they were out of sight and earshot, Penny looked over at Jeff and asked, “How are they really doing?”

“Well, Scott, Virgil and Gordon weren’t there when it happened, so they’re upset at that. John seems to be okay but I haven’t had a chance to talk to him about it. Luckily, neither he or Alan were hurt. I don’t know what I would’ve done if they were.” Jeff replied, looking down at the carpet.

Penny put a comforting hand on Jeff’s shoulder, then asked, “And Alan?”

Jeff sighed, shook his head slightly before he said, “I don’t know. He’s hardly said a word since it happened. I know he’s furious that we didn’t tell him about the Hood and his goons escaping, and I don’t blame him, but I’m also sure he’s freaked out. Who wouldn’t be after something like that?”

“I can’t imagine what you are feeling right now, or what your sons are feeling, but I know that everything will be alright. You Tracy’s are far too stubborn and strong to let this ruin you.” Penny told him with a smile, clearly trying to make him feel better.

Though he wasn’t sure if his family could get through this, Jeff returned the smile and said, “Thanks Penny.”

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

“This place is insane!” Gordon exclaimed as he walked into Scott’s room.

“No kidding. But then again, can we really expect anything less from Lady Penelope?” Scott replied with a smirk as he continued unpacking his suitcase. Gordon also smirked then came to sit down on the bed by his oldest brother.

“I’m surprised you didn’t insist that you stay in Alan’s room with him.” The redhead said, grabbing one of the throw pillows and playing with it in his hands.

“I figured it’s best to give the kid a bit of space right now. Besides, his room is between mine and John’s. And you and Virgil and Dad are just on the other side of the hall. If he needs us, we’re right there.” Scott told him, not mentioning that his big brother instincts were telling him to stick to Alan’s side like glue. The fact that he knew that the teenager wouldn’t respond well to that at all kept him from doing that.

“I hate this.” Gordon mumbled in a low voice that Scott could barely hear.

“Lady P’s house?” Scott questioned, a little confused as he just seemed to be excited about the place.

“No, I’m talking about this whole situation with Alan and the Hood.” Gordon answered, looking down at the carpet.

Scott stopped what he was doing and sat down beside the swimmer, then whispered, “I do too.”

“He’s too young for this. He doesn’t deserve any of this.” Gordon said, still not meeting his older brother’s eyes.

“I know,” Scott replied as he put his arm around Gordon’s shoulder, “but he’s got us, and he’s tough. He’ll get through this. We’ll all get through this.”

Gordon still kept his head down and was silent for a few seconds before he said, “I hope you’re right.”


	6. The Day After

The next morning, the entire Tracy family sat in the dining room eating breakfast with Lady Penelope. It was one of the most awkward meals they had ever had. Alan refused to speak or even look at any of his siblings or his Dad. Once they all realized that, they left him alone, not wanting to make the situation worse. Lady P seemed to notice, which wasn’t surprising as she didn’t miss much, and did her best to distract everyone from the situation. She told them about all the things that were available to them on the property like the pool, the barn in the back with horses, the tennis and volleyball courts, the gym and the game room. Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon were definitely interested in checking those out. And with Jeff, she started to plan a system that they could use from him to continue working without anyone knowing or finding out their location.

The conversation came to an abrupt halt when Alan quietly asked, “May I be excused please?”

“Of course you may dear.” Lady P quickly gave her permission with a smile. Alan gave her a quick but appreciative look, then got up from the table and left the room. Once he was gone, Jeff turned back to Lady P and started to apologize.

“I’m sorry Penny,” The aristocrat immediately cut him off, “It’s perfectly alright Jeff. He’s going through a rough time and needs some time to adjust and process everything.”

Jeff gave her a grateful smile and listened as she returned to what they were talking about before his youngest asked to leave. While he did try to focus on everything Penny was saying, his mind kept drifting back to Alan. He had no idea what to do to help his child, he doubted Alan would even let him close enough to do anything. Hopefully with this time away from everyone else and without much distractions, he and Alan would be able to talk, that he’d be able fix his mistake. He had truly thought it would be better if Alan didn’t know about the Hood’s escape but he was completely wrong, like he usually was whenever it concerned Alan.

“Jeff? Are you still listening?” He was immediately pulled out of his thoughts by Penny’s questions. He hadn’t meant to zone out but luckily, she didn’t seem mad. She seemed concerned.

Giving her a sheepish grin, Jeff said, “Sorry, just got a little lost in thought.”

Penny nodded in understanding, then continued talking, this time with him paying more attention.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Alan sat alone at the base of a tree in the backyard, the house only a couple of yards away from him. It wasn’t a great hiding spot but he wanted to stay nearby the mansion. He had originally planned going further away, not wanting to deal with his family for a little while, but when he saw the paths through the trees, he remembered how the Hood kidnapped him the last time. Though he knew he was safe here, he didn’t want to risk it. This way, if something did happen, help was a lot closer than it had been at the school.

The blonde wondered how long it would take for someone to come looking for him. Hopefully it would be a while yet. What his brothers and his Dad didn’t seem to understand was that at times like this, he wanted to be alone. He needed to be able to think without being distracted by their questions or simply by their presence. Whenever they were around, he felt this pressure on him, telling him to show them that he was okay, that he didn’t have any problems, that he was strong just like them, even when he wasn’t. It had been that way for years, though it wasn’t always like that. When he was younger, he used to trust them with everything. Now, with everything that had happened, and not just with the Hood, he trusted them to keep him safe from physical threats and that was it. He couldn’t trust them with anything else. He wondered what Dr. Brooks would say about that, if he ever talked to her again.

Brushing the thoughts away, Alan looked around. The backyard was almost like an actual forest. While the front of the mansion was like a crazy, fancy garden that was like the Queen’s garden or something, they seemed to have left the backyard along. Sure, there was the tennis and volleyball courts and the barn, but those were off to the side. The pool was inside. As much as the trees frightened him, he liked that it was left alone. It was peaceful, almost as peaceful as the beach on Tracy Island.

“There you are.” Alan turned his head to see Scott coming over to him. “Virgil, John and I are going to explore the place. You want to come?”

“No Gordon?” Alan quietly wondered. He would’ve thought that Gordon would’ve wanted to explore the place too.

“He found the pool. He’s happy.” Scott answered with a grin. Alan also smirked when he heard that. Trust that the Olympic swimmer to find the pool and already be in it. Sometimes he wondered if he really was part fish.

“So, do you want to come?” Scott asked again when Alan didn’t answer.

“No thanks.” The youngest replied, turning his head to look back at the trees.

Scott looked a little disappointed, but nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll see you later then.”

Alan nodded but didn’t look back over at him. He heard Scott’s footsteps as he walked away and instinctively relaxed a little more. It would probably be while before he stopped tensing up whenever his brothers or his Dad were around. There were times he’d still jump or tense up when they were around before he found out the Hood had escaped. Even before the Hood had actually attacked them on the island, he’d always be on his guard around his family, waiting for the inevitable argument or teasing at his expense to start.

Alan didn’t think he’d been sitting there that long. He easily drifted into his thoughts, managing to find something else to think of besides his family or the Hood. He actually thought about Fermat and Tintin. He hadn’t been in contact with them since they left for Lady P’s place. It wasn’t safe yet. They weren’t sure if the Hood or his minions were tracking their phones or anything and neither the police of his Dad wanted to take that chance. He hoped he would be able to talk them soon, he really missed them right now.

He was pulled out of his thoughts though when his Dad came outside and said, “It’s time for lunch son.”

The blonde immediately looked down at his watch and saw that it was indeed 12 o’clock, right on the dot. He had been sitting outside for nearly three hours. It felt like only 20 minutes had passed since he left the breakfast table. Looking up at his father, Alan said, “I’ll be right there.”

Regarding the teenager for a moment, Jeff sat down beside him and asked, “Are you alright Alan? I know you’re probably sick of being asked that, but we’re worried about you.”

“I’d feel better if I wasn’t always being lied to.” Alan muttered, his voice empty and emotionless, though Jeff knew there was actually a lot of anger underneath and he didn’t blame him. He’d be angry too if he were in his shoes.

“We thought it’d be better if you weren’t aware of what was going on. You’d been through so much already and we were worried that the news of the Hood’s escape would make it worse. And we hoped that he would be caught before anything like this could happen.” Jeff tried to explain, as he didn’t get the chance earlier.

“Because finding out this way was so much better.” Alan quietly shot back. Jeff wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Before this whole thing with the Hood started, his youngest would argue with him, make snide remarks like that when angry while after, he just stayed silent. Him being angry was familiar territory for the father by he knew that wasn’t any healthier than him not speaking at all. At least he was talking though.

“I am sorry Alan. We never meant to hurt you.” Jeff said. He wanted to hug him, but he knew that right now Alan would not accept it.

“You guys never do.” Alan mumbled. Jeff flinched at his words but since Alan wasn’t looking at him, he didn’t see it.

Scott had told Jeff what Alan had said months ago when they were talking down in the Thunderbirds silos not long after they brought Alan home from the hospital. As he explained what his youngest brother had said about his brothers basically bullying him, Jeff had felt his heart break a little more. He had known that his older sons often teased his youngest, and at times went to far, he never knew how that made Alan feel. Or how that it had been pushing Alan away. They had all been hurting far longer and far more than they had realized.

“I’ve been talking with Penny about figuring out a way to contact people without showing our location and I was thinking, it might be a good idea if we arrange a Skype meeting between you and Dr. Brooks.” Jeff suggested.

Alan moved his head to the side to face his Dad and said, “Seriously? Isn’t that a little dangerous? And wouldn’t it be weird to do it on line?”

“I doubt it would be much different than talking to your friends, brothers or me. And we should have it all set up by the end of the day so that it will be safe.” Jeff answered.

The youngest Tracy was silent for a minute, thinking it over, then said, “I’ll think about it.”

“Let me know when you decide. But for now, it’s time for lunch.” Jeff said, getting up to his feet and heading back inside. After a minute or so, Alan stood up and followed after his Dad.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

The Hood stood in the dark room all along, the only light coming from the TV screen. After he had those in his service attack the Tracy’s in New York, he expected it to be all over the news by now. After all, it wasn’t everyday that the children of a celebrity were shot at. However, there was nothing which confused him. When he kidnapped Alan Tracy, it was all over the media. Why wasn’t the shooting?

Suddenly, the door opened and Transom came in. Turning to face her, the Hood asked, “What have you found?”

“Nothing. It’s like they’ve disappeared.” Transom regretfully informed him,

“Did they go back to the island?” The Hood wondered, not at all pleased about the disappearance of his targets.

“It doesn’t look like it. Their private plane, that they use to travel between the island and the mainland, is still in their private airport.” She answered. After a minute of silence, she asked, “What do you want to do?”

“Find them.” The Hood said. “Find them and make them pay.”


	7. Worry

Alan sat on the bed in the bedroom that had become his over the last several days. In front of him, was a laptop that Lady P lent him two days ago after they arrived at her mansion. She assured him that it was completely safe to use, that the IP address would be hidden and no one would be able to see what he was doing. Only a day later, his Dad told him they worked out a way for him to Skype Dr. Brooks if he wanted, but it took him another three days for him to make his decision.

In the end, it was actually fairly easy decision. He needed to talk someone and he did not want to talk to his family. He didn’t trust them at all and he didn’t really want anything to do with them right now. Already he felt like he was being suffocated by them despite the gigantic house and his brothers’ obvious attempts to give him space. And since the plan was to stay with Lady P until the Hood was found, which could take a long time, he knew he was truly going to lose his mind if he stayed quiet and avoided everyone.

Alan spent the first 20 minutes of the Skype telling Dr. Brooks everything that happened since their last meeting. He wasn’t sure how much she knew, but she said to pretend she knew nothing. He supposed that she wanted to hear it from his perspective or something like that. Alan didn’t mind that though. As much as he didn’t want to remember being shot at and learning that everyone had been lying to him, he did actually want to talk about it.

Once he finished telling her everything, the doctor was quiet for a minute, then said, “You know Alan, this might be a good thing.”

“How?” Alan wondered. He didn’t see anything good about the situation at all.

“You now have time with your family that won’t be interrupted as much as it usually is. You should consider taking advantage of it.” Dr. Brooks told him.

“But I don’t want to be anywhere around them right now.” Alan replied with a frustrated and hurt voice.

An understanding expression came upon her face as she said, “I know Alan. But ignoring them, and pushing down your feelings is not going to solve the problem. You need to talk to them about it. And considering the fact that they want you to talk, makes it a good time to do it because they are willing to listen.”

“Yeah, until they find a way to blame it all on me or if I say something they don’t want to hear.” Alan muttered, just barely loud enough for Dr. Brooks to hear.

She certainly had her work cut out for her with this situation. Every time Alan opened up, he revealed problems he had with his family. From her sessions with the young teenager, she knew that they apparently ignored him, always busy with work despite living on a secluded island. And the times they weren’t ignoring him, they were teasing him. Apparently they had stopped now and Alan had mentioned it to one of his brothers, but he seemed convinced that they would start up again once they thought enough time had passed. It all boiled down to two points, he didn’t trust his family and he felt like he wasn’t wanted. She had already been planning on talking to Alan and Jeff Tracy about having a family session so they could all talk about this, but then the Tracy family had to go into witness protection. A family session would have to wait.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Jeff glanced up at the clock in Penny’s library for the 13th time in the last five minutes. Normally Alan’s sessions with Dr. Brooks were only an hour long, but as this was being done over Skype and with them being in a different time zones, he had no idea how long his son’s talk with the psychologist would last. Then again, he probably wouldn’t even let him know when he was done. He would probably just stay in his room until he was called down for supper. He still didn’t want to be around people right now, especially around his brothers or Dad.

“How are you doing Jeff?” The former astronaut looked over to the door and saw Penny enter the library.

“I’m doing okay. And you?” Jeff asked, giving her a small smile.

“I am well. Are you getting a lot of work done?” Penny wondered, coming to stand by the couch where he was sitting.

“Not as much as I should.” He admitted, leaning his head against the back of the couch. Seeing the concerned look on Penny’s face, he said, “I’m just distracted. Hard not to be, considering everything that’s going on.”

A more understanding expression came upon the aristocrat’s face and she nodded as she asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Not for this I’m afraid. You’ve already done so much for us already.” Jeff told her.

“I only wish I can do more.” Penny said with a small smile. Jeff smiled back at her, then looked up at the clock again. It had now been an hour since Dr. Brooks called.

“Are you waiting for something?” Penny asked, noticing him checking the time.

“Alan’s session with Dr. Brooks should be over by now. I was thinking of going up to check on him. He probably won’t want me to though.” Jeff answered, looking down at the ground.

“Things still aren’t getting any easier with Alan, are they?” Penny correctly assumed.

“Nope, not really. He’s been avoiding all of us, not that I blame him. He has every right to be mad at us. But how are we supposed to fix things if he won’t talk to us?” Jeff wondered.

“I’m sure he’ll come around. He just needs some time.” Penny tried to reassure him.

“Alan and I have been distant for years, and it’s only been getting worse. I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t even know if I can. I just, I just don’t know what to do.” Jeff admitted quietly. He had always known he wasn’t as close to his youngest as he was to his other sons, but it wasn’t until the Hood first attacked them that he realized how bad it was. He tried to make it better, tried to spend more time with his son, but then he screwed up by losing his temper and sending Alan back to school where he was kidnapped. Now, he was truly aware of how bad of a relationship he actually had with Alan and he had no idea what to do.

“I’m sorry Jeff.” Penny said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“It’s not your fault.” Jeff responded.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Scott knocked on Alan’s door three times but when he didn’t respond at all, the oldest Tracy son opened the door. He found his youngest brother sitting on the window seat with his knees drawn up to his chest, staring at the grounds below. It was clear that he hadn’t heard Scott at all.

“Alan?” The teenager snapped his head in Scott’s direction with a surprised look on his face.

Scott frowned in concern as he asked, “You okay?”

“Yeah, just thinking.” Alan quietly answered.

“About what?” The brunette then asked as he walked over to him.

“Just stuff.” The blonde replied, turning his head back to face the window.

Scott paused, wondering what he should do next. Alan had remained distant over the last few days which still didn’t surprise anyone but it did leave everyone at a loss as to what they should do. They all decided that for now they should give him space like last time but Scott wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. The situation was different and he knew they messed up by not telling Alan the truth and Scott felt a strong desire to make it right.

“Did you and Dr. Brooks have a good talk?”

“It was fine.”

Resisting the urge to let out a frustrated sigh, Scott asked, “Is there anything you want to talk about?”

“Nope.” Alan responded, keeping his gaze on the world outside.

“Well, we were going to go play some football before supper, going to try and get Dad to join. Did you want to come?” Scott wondered, remembering why he had originally come to the room.

Alan shook his head as he answered, “Not really.”

“Okay. If you change your mind though, we’ll just be outside.” Scott told him. When his little brother nodded, he stood up and walked out of the room, trying to hide his disappointment until he was out of sight.

At the bottom of the stairs, John, Virgil and Gordon were waiting for him. They looked up when they heard him coming and though they all knew the odds of their youngest sibling joining them were low, Scott could see that they were still hopeful. When they saw that he was alone and the saddened expression on his face, their own faces fell.

“Still wanting to be alone?” John assumed as Scott reached them.

“Yup.” Scott confirmed.

“Is he okay?” Virgil wondered.

Gordon shot him a look and asked, “Would you be if you had been through everything he has?”

“Guys, let’s not fight.” Scott quickly stepped in, trying to diffuse the situation. The medic and swimmer glared at each other for a few seconds but then turned their attention to the pilot.

“Do we still want to go out and play?” John asked, tossing the football from one hand to the other.

“I don’t know.” Gordon answered, looking down at the floor.

“Come on fish, it’ll be fun.” Scott told him as he put his arm around Gordon’s shoulders and started leading him to the backyard, John and Virgil following right behind them.

“Fine. But tomorrow we play pool volleyball.” Gordon said.

With a smile, Scott replied, “Alright, it’s a deal squid.”

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

FBI director Andrew Cardinal struggled to unlock the door to his house. He had gone grocery shopping before coming home and had the bags in his arms. He didn’t want to make two trips. He was so exhausted he was thinking of going straight to bed after putting everything away without supper. He could just eat a big breakfast in the morning.

Once he got inside, he shut the door and headed to the kitchen. He put the bags on the table but froze when he heard a small creak of pressure being put on a loose forehead. Andrew instinctively pulled his handgun from his belt and turned around. To his surprise, he found he was pointing his weapon at a bald man dressed in an ornate red robe. The Hood. And before he could do anything, the Hood held up his hand, his eyes flashed red and the gun was ripped from his hold.

“Apologizes Director for the sudden visit, but I have a problem that only you can help me with.” The Hood said, taking a few steps closer to Andrew.

“And what would that be?” Andrew asked, though had a feeling he knew what the man wanted.

“The location of the Tracy family of course.” The Hood answered, coming another two steps forward.

“Not going to happen, especially since I don’t even know where they are.” Andrew told him, hoping the criminal would believe him and leave. No reason to waste time on someone who didn’t have the answers he wanted.

“I think you do, and I’m not leaving until I have my answer.” The Hood said. Before Andrew could even think of what to do next, the bald man lifted his hand and he felt an intense, blinding pain in his head and Andrew screamed.


	8. Surprised Insight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read the bottom note for an important announcement. Other than that, I hope you all like this chapter!

Alan wasn’t eating. Or at least, wasn’t eating that much. Everyone had noticed the youngest’s lack of appetite since they arrived at Lady Penelope’s but no one commented on it. As much as it worried them, it wasn’t that surprising considering the circumstances. Jeff, Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon also have not been eating as much as they normally do, but it was still more than Alan had been.

“How’d you sleep last night?” Jeff asked, trying to sound nonchalant, like he was just making conversation but from the way Alan tensed up and everyone turned to look at the youngest, he knew he failed.

“Fine.” Alan answered, he eyes on his plate. Everyone knew, could see that he was lying, but no one called him out on it. Before the Hood attacked him and John, he wasn’t sleeping very well. He constantly had nightmares about the criminal coming after him, and now that he knew the Hood was free and he wasn’t letting his brothers stay and comfort him when he slept, it was undoubtedly going to be worse.

“We’re going to go swimming this afternoon, play some volleyball. Wanna join us?” Gordon then asked with a hopeful tone.

Shaking his head, Alan said, “No thanks.”

“Okay.” Gordon replied, visibly deflating.

Everyone fell into an awkward and tense silence after that. At times one of them tried to start a conversation about things like the weather, but they died quickly. Even Penny was visibly affected by it.

“May I be excused?” Alan finally asked when the silence became too much.

“That’s all you’re eating?” Jeff inquired, seeing how much food was left on the plate.

“Not really hungry.” Alan mumbled, avoiding his Dad’s gaze.

“You’ve barely been eating.” Jeff said, unable to stop himself. Penny however quickly laid a hand over his and said, “Yes Alan, you may be excused.”

Without another word, the teenager stood up from the table and walked out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Scott looked to his Dad. “What happened to being patient and not pushing anything?”

“I know I just,” Jeff broke off, unable to properly express how worried he was.

“It’s alright Jeff, you’re allowed to be worried.” Penny told him, then added, “Just try to remain patient.”

“I will.”

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Alan found himself outside in the backyard sitting by the tree just like he had been the last several days. He liked the peace and quiet. It gave him time to think, and he had a lot to think about. For the majority of their stay, he had been thinking about the Hood. Where he was, whether he was coming after him or if he was going to wait them out or something. Now though, he was thinking about what Dr. Brooks had suggested during their last meeting.

The therapist did have a point about this being a good opportunity to talk to his family. It’s not like there was anything important going on that would keep them busy right now. And if there’s one thing that his family had drilled into his head over the last several weeks, it was that they were there if he ever wanted to talk. He remembered back when he was a little kid that his brothers were always there whenever he needed them. That had changed as he got older. They would eventually go back to teasing him and he wasn’t sure if he could deal with that right now. But, if they were really being serious, then he kind of did want to talk to them, despite how angry he still was about their lie.

It didn’t take long for Alan to hear the voices of his brothers coming towards him. They always did come find him eventually. Usually though, it was only one, but this time it sounded like it was all of them. Looking over to the side, he saw his four older siblings coming out the back door, about 20 feet away from where he was sitting, Gordon carrying a volleyball.

Spying him, Virgil called out, “You sure you don’t want to join us Sprout?”

“I’m sure.” Alan replied. None of them looked happy about his answer, but they wordlessly accepted it and made their way to the volleyball court. He was a little confused as they had said they were going swimming, but he brushed it off. He didn’t care that much why they apparently changed their mind.

That is, until he saw how close he was to the court where they would be playing. It was only about 50 feet away from him. If he repositioned himself a little, he would have a clear line of sight of them and they him. Alan wondered if that’s why they changed their plans. It wouldn’t surprise him at all if it was. And that alone had Alan moving so he was more hidden from their view, mostly out of spite.

It didn’t last that long though. He quickly grew bored and wanted a distraction from his thoughts. When that happened, he moved to sit in a spot where he could watch his brothers playing their game. It wasn’t the first time he had watched his brothers do stuff like this. They would always invite him, even before the Hood showed up, but he didn’t always join. The times he did, it was always a little awkward because five was an odd number so they had to switch out players to make it even and fair. Just more evidence of how he was the outside of the family, that he was an unexpected surprise. His parents had only planned on having four kids. He was an accident, just like his entire life.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

After doing some work, Jeff decided to take a break and see what his boys were up to. Coming outside, he easily spotted his four oldest sons at the volleyball court while his youngest sat against the same tree he always did whenever he went outside. Walking over to Alan, he asked, “How’s it going?”

“Fine.” Alan answered with an emotionless tone, causing a stab of guilt to hit Jeff in the stomach.

Sitting down beside him, Jeff then asked, “Why aren’t you playing with your brothers?”

“Didn’t feel like it.” Alan told him, staring down at the ground.

“I know you’re still mad at us, and you have right to be, but I don’t like you isolating yourself like this. It worries all of us. We want to help.” Jeff said. He knew he might be pushing it, but he needed his son to know this. He had a feeling he didn’t.

“Why? You never cared before.” Alan responded, making Jeff freeze. The father knew that Alan wasn’t as close to his brothers as he was when he was younger, but it wasn’t that bad. Was it? Was there more that he had missed?

“Of course I care. We all care.” Jeff replied. Alan though let out a disbelieving scoff which in turn caused Jeff’s anger to rise and his patience to drop.

“You’d know that if you ever talked to us.” The father then grumbled with a frustrated tone, turning his head to the side. He didn’t mean for Alan to actually hear him, but apparently he wasn’t quiet enough.

“Why would I talk to you? You never listen to me.” Alan argued, finally looking over at his Dad, but only to glare at him.

“Yes I do.” Jeff immediately objected. The second those words left his mouth though, he wondered if that was actually the truth. When was the last time he and Alan had a heart to heart? When was the last time Alan came to him with a problem or just because he wanted to talk? He couldn’t remember.

“No you don’t. You say you will, but then when I try, you’re either too busy or you just don’t listen. Stop pretending otherwise!” Alan snapped in anger before standing up and storming off, leaving his father in stunned silence.

Jeff watched wordlessly as his youngest left, not having seen Alan’s outburst coming, though in hindsight he should’ve. He was pushing too hard and thinking about it more, he realized that Alan had a point. He was a very busy person and didn’t get much time to spend with his sons, even less with Alan as he went to boarding school and wasn’t on the island as much. How could he have been so blind to this, and for so long?

“Dad?” Jeff turned his head at the sound of Scott’s voice to find that his other children had stopped their game and were now coming towards him.

“What happened?” John asked as they all reach them.

Standing up, Jeff said, “I screwed up. Pushed way too hard. I just hate how he won’t talk to us.” 

“Well, I don’t think he will be opening up any time soon after that.” Gordon commented. Before Jeff could ground his only redheaded child, he saw Scott cuff him on the back of his head.

“Do you want us to go talk to him?” Virgil wondered.

“No, we should give him a minute. Besides, he’s probably not going to want to tall to any of us anyways.” John told them. Knowing that he was most likely right, they all kept their mouths shut.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Alan laid on his bed, curled up in a ball with his back to the door. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed since he yelled at his Dad, but he was sure it had been at least an hour. His limbs had become heavy and slightly numb. It felt like he wasn’t connected to his body really at all. It probably wasn’t going to last much longer though. Sooner or later one of his brothers or maybe even his Dad would come to check on him. And with his luck, it would be sooner rather than later. He just didn’t understand why they suddenly cared so much. They never did before.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, causing Alan to internally groan. However, he was surprised when he heard Lady Penelope’s voice saying, “Alan dear, it’s me. May I come in?”

“Sure.” Alan responded, pushing himself up into a sitting position. Lady P then entered the room, closing the door behind her. Slowly, she approached him as she said, “I know the answer is probably obvious, but are you alright?”

At first, he instinctively opened his mouth to tell her that he was fine, but he couldn’t force the words out. Lowering his gaze, he silently shook his head. Lady P stayed silent as he did, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

After about a minute, she asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I’m just sick of my family pretending they care.” Alan told her, shifting his head more to the side so he wouldn’t see her face.

“‘Pretending’?” She questioned with a surprised tone. When Alan didn’t respond, she said, “Alan, you don’t really believe that, do you?”

“What am I supposed to believe? They only seem to care when something bad happens while the rest of the time they either ignore me, yell at me or tease me, like I only exist for their amusement.” He fumed.

Penny sat in thought for a minute, wondering what to say to that. She didn’t spend much time with the Tracy family as a while, or day to day. Most of the time she just talked to Jeff, would take Alan home from school and maybe stay for a meal. At most a day or two. So she didn’t fully know who they usually acted, but if what she had seen was what usually occurred, she could see why Alan would feel this way. However, if Alan hadn’t really had any positive attention from them before, then she would’ve thought that he would be basking in it right now, not avoiding it.

“Alan, I might be reading too much into this, but is there a chance that you want to actually work though these problems because you feel that if you do, your family will start ignoring you again?” Penny asked with a hesitant voice.

The young man snapped his head up to look at her, about to object to what she said, but then stopped. Was she right? Was he purposely trying to make his family worry about him because he liked the attention? He already knew that he would so some stupid stuff to get attention, but did this count?

“I, I don’t know.” Alan answered. Penny gave him a sympathetic look before she pulled him into a hug. Despite knowing her for years, Alan couldn’t remember ever hugging her before. Though a little surprising, it was nice and he sunk into it, grateful for the comfort.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Andrew regained consciousness when he felt someone force his eyes open. He groaned and turned his head away from the hand, but turned back when he heard a familiar ask, “Director Cardinal? Are you awake?”

Slowly opening his eyes of his own volition, he found FBI Agent Johnson leaning over him, looking concerned.

“Do you remember what happened?” Johnson questioned, causing the memories to flood back and Andrew shot up.

“The Hood. He showed up. We have to tell MI6. He knows where the Tracy family is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So, I have some bad news. My schedule was very crazy in the last week or so, and I haven’t had much time to work on this story, so I’m going to need to take a week off posting in order to catch up. Don’t worry, I will not be abandoning this story or anything, but I will not be posting next Monday. But I will the Monday after. See you all then!


	9. More Problems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I’m back! Thank you all so much for being patient with me! Next chapter, will be posted next Tuesday instead of Monday as I will be on vacation. I hope you all like this chapter!

Jeff sat in one of the many sitting rooms in Penny’s mansion, laptop on the coffee table in front him, typing away. He knew that he would have to still work while he was here in England with his sons, but it seemed like his company was collapsing or something, even though he usually did his work through emails and video conferences so he could be home with his boys. And so he could run International Rescue of course.

“How’s it going?” Jeff raised his head to find Lady Penelope coming towards him.

“Harder than I thought it would be.” Jeff informed. “I had hoped that considering the circumstances, my employees, stockholders and members of the board would be a bit more understanding but no. They seem to be panicking or complaining.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sure this won’t last very long.” Penny replied, sitting down on the sofa across from him. Jeff opened his mouth to say something, then stopped when he saw a strange look on her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just received a call from my contacts at MI6. Apparently, the Hood attacked Deputy Director Cardinal in his home last night.” She informed him. Jeff sat up straight and stared at her in shock.

“Is he okay?”

“Yes, he’s fine. Just a massive headache due to the Hood’s powers.” Penny assured him before she added, “However, the Hood found out you and your sons are here.”

“What?” Jeff shouted angrily, standing up and clenching his fists as he did so. Penny instinctively leaned back, but waited patiently for him to calm down.

It only took a few seconds for Jeff to realize how he reacted and when he did, he sat back down and whispered, “Sorry Penny.”

“It’s quite alright Jeff. Perfectly understandable.” She responded with a reassuring smile that helped calm the former astronaut even more.

For the next few minutes, they sat in silence. Despite appearing to calm down, Jeff wasn’t calm at all. He was completely panicking. The man who had almost killed him and all of his sons, and kidnapped and tortured his youngest was not only out of jail, he knew where they were. What were they going to do now? How was he going to protect his family?

“So what do we do?” Jeff questioned, looking over at Penny.

“I’m going to up the security and MI6 is going to keep an eye out on the airports and marinas and docks, but other than that, I don’t think there is anything else we can do. Unless we consider going to a different location.” Penny suggested.

“Do you think the Hood can even find this place? This location is kept hidden.” Jeff responded. The last thing he wanted was to find a new place to stay. It had been difficult enough staying here. To move again, and possibly again would be worse. But if it really was the safest option to protection his children, he’d do it without hesitation.

“If he was able to find Tracy Island, I think he’d be able to find my home.” Penny pointed out. When she saw Jeff lower his head into his hands though, she added, “However, no one was looking for him at the time and odds are that he’ll be found very shortly. And of course, moving might be more dangerous than just staying here.”

“I’ll talk to the boys. They should have a say in it too.” Jeff decided.

“I suppose that makes sense.” Penny said. Her tone on the other hand told him that she didn’t really mean it.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, I do think they should know about this, but I have a feeling that there’s going to be a lot of arguing if you ask their opinion.” Penny admitted.

“Probably, but it’s their lives that are also being affected. They should have a say in what we do next.” Jeff explained. After a minute of thought, Penny nodded in agreement.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

“What?” Scott shouted the second Jeff finished explaining what he had learned only an hour earlier. Gordon and Virgil looked just as outraged while John appeared too shocked to think clearly while Alan looked like he was going to pass out and Jeff didn’t blame him.

This was only the third time he had actually seen Alan since yesterday morning after the young blonde yelled at him. He had skipped lunch, only emerging for dinner which was completely silent before he had hidden in his room again for the evening. Jeff had hoped that things would be a little better in the morning now that Alan had had time to calm down, but now it had gotten worse. Alan had isolated himself even more, which Jeff didn’t think was possible. And despite being up over half the night trying to think of how to fix it, he had nothing. Even Penny, who had been able to talk to him, refused to tell him what Alan had said to her, not wanting to betray his trust. Jeff understood why, and did want Alan to have someone to talk to, but it frustrated him greatly.

“What do we do?” John asked, forcing Jeff to refocus on the situation at hand.

“Well, the authorities are covering the airports and every other place where the Hood can enter the country and Penny is upping the security around here as well. However, there hasn’t been any sign that he has even left the States yet.” Jeff replied.

“So there’s a good chance that he’ll be caught before he actually does something.” Virgil said, trying to look on the positive side.

“Yes there is.” Jeff told him, shooting his middle son a grateful smile. He hoped that this knowledge would help calm down his other children, but from the expressions on their faces, it didn’t.

“And what if he manages to get through? What if he’s already here in England?” Gordon questioned angrily, causing Alan, who was sitting on the couch beside him, to tense up even more.

With a sigh, Jeff said, “Ultimately, we have two options. We stay put, or we risk going somewhere else.”

“Wouldn’t it be safer to leave? To go somewhere the Hood won’t find us?” Scott wondered.

“Actually, it’s more dangerous to move because we would be more open. It would give the Hood more opportunities to strike.” John responded with a calmness that Jeff wished he had.

“John’s right.” Jeff said. “And besides, the Hood doesn’t know where this place is. Due to Lady Penelope’s high profile, her address is kept secured. It would take some doing for him to find us here.”

At that, all of his children fell silent. It was clear to the single parent that his oldest sons were taking the time to fully process all the information before coming up with ideas on what to do. All of his boys hated sitting idly. They needed to take action, take charge, especially Scott. However, Alan was still sitting frozen like a statue and it made the father’s worry increase.

“Alan?” Jeff gently called out, seeming to snap the youngest blonde out of his daze as well as drawing all the attention to him. For a minute, Alan stayed silent which made Jeff wonder if he was in so much shock that he didn’t hear what was going on. Before he could say anything else though, Alan asked, “Can’t we just go home? I’d rather go home.”

Jeff felt a pang of sympathy hit him like a hammer to the chest. All he wanted was to keep his children safe, but he had pulled them from their home, pulled Alan away from his best friend and girlfriend. As far as he knew, Alan hadn’t even been able to talk to Fermat or Tintin on the off chance that the Hood was somehow monitoring any communications coming from the island. It wasn’t fair. Nothing about any of this was fair. Alan was too young to have to deal with all of this. His other sons didn’t deserve this either.

“I’d love it if we could go home Alan, but it’s not safe there.” Jeff told him, his voice quiet and compassionate.

“But if the Hood knows we’re here, then we shouldn’t stay. He wouldn’t expect us to go home. And he probably doesn’t even remember how to get to the island. And we can use Lady P’s car to get there instead of going to an airport or something like that.” Alan pointed out, stunning everyone. None of them had really thought about using Lady P’s car or if the Hood did know the exact location of Tracy Island.

“I’ll discuss it with Lady Penelope. We’ll come up with something. But don’t worry. Soon the Hood will be back behind bars and we’ll be back home.” Jeff tried to assure him. However, due to the emotionless look on the teenager’s face, he wasn’t sure if he succeeded. Alan did though give him a short nod then wordlessly stood up and walked out of the room.

Once he was gone, Scott turned back and asked, “So we’re going to stay here?”

“For now. That might change as things continue to develop, but I think it might be better to stay here.” Jeff answered, his eyes constantly drifting back to the doorway Alan had just gone through.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Virgil wondered, hating that they were all just waiting around until the Hood was captured.

“Unfortunately, no there isn’t. The only thing we can do is wait until something happens.” Jeff informed them. “Until then, stay close to the house. Don’t leave the property at all and keep your watches on at all times.”

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Instead of hiding outside by his tree again, Alan found himself in his bedroom on the window seat. After hearing that the Hood knew where they were, the fear of being outside surrounded by trees where he could be grabbed like the first time had grown to the point he didn’t want to leave the house at all. He knew that he was probably overreacting but he didn’t care right now.

A slight knock on his door had Alan looking over to the entrance. He expected to see his Dad or Scott, especially since he’d hardly seen them since yesterday morning, but it was Lady Penelope. He was glad for that. He hadn’t really seen her since he cried on her shoulder yesterday, but she never tried to push him and she didn’t make a big deal about his small breakdown. That alone was better than his brothers and Dad. If they would have been the ones to see that and comfort him, they would’ve started hovering even more than they already were. If that was at all possible.

“May I come in?” Lady P asked, staying outside of the room, clearly not wanting to venture where she wasn’t wanted.

“Sure.” Alan gave her his permission, nodding his head. With a smile, she entered the room and made her way over to him. However, instead of sitting on the bed beside him like last time, she pulled out the chair from the desk and sat down on it.

As her blue eyes focused on him, a sympathetic expression came on her face as she said, “I’m really sorry all of this is happening Alan. I had hoped you and your family would be safe here.”

“It’s not your fault.” Alan immediately responded.

Penny didn’t say anything to that. Logically she knew the only one at fault was the Hood, but the guilt remained. Changing the subject a little, she said, “I know it doesn’t feel like it now Alan, but I’m positive this will all be over soon, that everything will be okay.”

“And what if it’s not?” The younger blonde asked. “I don’t think I can live constantly on the run like this Lady P.”

“You won’t be.” She assured him, hoping that she was indeed telling him the truth. As much as she believed that the Hood would be caught, she couldn’t guarantee that. And with his abilities, along with all of his connections back when he was a crime lord in Malaysia, it wouldn’t be easy. However, she trusted her security and her contacts at MI6 and the CIA.

When Alan remained silent at that, Penny decided to change the subject completely and asked, “Have you decided if you are going to talk to your family?”

“No.” Alan answered. Seeing an understanding yet disappointed expression on her face, he added, “I know I probably should, but it’s not easy.”

“I’m sure it’s not,” Penny told him, “but the longer you wait, the harder it’s going to be.”

Alan didn’t have anything to say to that.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

When the Hood felt the submarine stop moving, he waited patiently until he saw one of his employees climb up the ladder and opened the hatch. The Hood then followed after him and climbed out of the transport. Blinking against the bright sunlight, he found that he was in the middle of a large, secluded bay. The only people around besides those with him was a man in a small boat right beside the submarine, waiting to take them all to shore.

“Welcome to England sir.” The man greeted the criminal. The Hood nodded, then stepped into the boat and looked at the land in front of him with a smile. Though he still didn’t know where Lady Penelope’s residence was just yet, it wouldn’t be long until he found out. Then, he would finally deal with the Tracy family once and for all.


	10. Big Brother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I’m back from vacation with another chapter! I’m going to try my hardest to have chapter 11 done and ready by the upcoming Monday, but it might not be. Sorry. I didn’t have as much time to write as I thought I would. Hope you all like this chapter though.

At six o’clock the next morning, Scott sat in the den filled flipping through the channels on the TV, trying to find something interesting to watch. He had tried to sleep in but years of waking up early to take care of his younger brothers, being in the Air Force, and working for Tracy Enterprises and International Rescue had made it a habit. It was rare that he ever slept past 9. Unless of course he was injured or massively jetlagged.

“What are you doing?” A tired, quiet voice suddenly asked. Scott looked over to the side to find Alan coming into the room, rubbing his eyes. He must’ve just woken up because his hair was a mess and he was wearing a long, pale blue T-shirt with plaid pajama pants.

“Trying to find something interesting to watch. I woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep.” Scott explained. He then patted the spot beside him and asked, “Want to join me?”

Alan didn’t say anything, but he did come over to sit beside him. Scott took that as a small win considering how distant he had been ever since they arrived in England. They both stayed quiet for a few minutes as Scott continued to look for a show or movie that would entertain the both of them but he kept glancing over at his baby brother, waiting for him to say something. He would’ve spoken but given what happened with their Dad only two days ago, he didn’t want to push.

“You okay?” Scott finally questioned when he couldn’t take the silence anymore.

“Nightmare.” Alan quietly admitted, looking down at the carpet. Scott wasn’t surprised at his answer, being well aware of the younger teenager’s terrible dreams that plague his sleep, but he was surprised Alan answered him and was honest about it.

“Anything I can do to help?” Scott wondered. Wordlessly, Alan shook his head. Putting a hand on his shoulder, Scott said, “I’m sorry Sprout.”

“I know.” Alan responded, his voice so quiet and sad that Scott couldn’t help but pull him into his arms. He was again surprised as Alan willingly went.

Resting his head against his chest, Alan quickly said, “I’m still mad at you, and Dad and the others though.”

“I know. You have every right to be. But I hope you do forgive us, someday.” Scott replied, holding him tightly in his arms.

“I will.” Alan told him. Deep down, he had always known that he would forgive his family. He knew that they weren’t trying to be malicious or anything, that they were trying to protect him. And he didn’t want to carry all that anger and pain around for the rest of his life. He was carrying enough of that already.

As Scott continued his search for something entertaining to watch, he asked, “Want to watch anything in particular?”

“I don’t know. Maybe just a cartoon or something like that.” Alan said. He didn’t want to watch anything serious or action-packed. Something light-hearted and childish that he could laugh sounded good right now. Scott seemed to agree because he quickly found one and clicked it.

For children, the show was probably very popular enjoyable, but Scott found it a bit boring and a little ridiculous. At times, he didn’t know if he should cringe at the bad acting or chuckle. It only took about 10 minutes before he had enough of it and he looked down at Alan to ask if he could switch the channel, but he paused at the sight. In those 10 minutes, his little brother had nestled against his chest and fell asleep. Smiling, Scott wrapped his arms around him and turned the volume on the TV down. It reminded the oldest a lot of when Alan was little, when he was basically was raising him and their other siblings. Though being a parent while he was still a child himself was hard and he didn’t really enjoy it, he loved moments like this. He wished this would last as long as possible. He missed it.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

“Can we talk?” Alan looked up from the book he was reading in Lady P’s library to see his Dad standing in the doorway.

He had only seen his father at breakfast and lunch today, and neither time did they talk. The only time they actually had talked since their fight was when his Dad revealed that the Hood attacked the FBI agent and had learned where they were. Alan didn’t really want to talk about what he was sure his Dad wanted to talk about, but he was unable to come up with an excuse to get himself out of this. So he nodded and put his book down on the coffee table in front of him. A grateful yet nervous expression came over the parent’s face, but he didn’t say anything as he came over to sit in the cushioned chair beside Alan.

“I want to say, I’m sorry about the other day. I… I keep thinking that I know what’s going on with you when I honestly don’t. And yeah, I am very busy which means I’m not there for you like I should be. I’m sorry for that too.” Jeff told him, looking right into his son’s blue eyes so that he could see his sincerity.

To say that Alan was stunned at his father’s words would be an understatement. Whenever his mind would start to wonder how his life would be if his Dad and brothers actually acted like they cared about him, he never imagined his Dad admitting his mistakes. Even when he was a little boy. Even though there had been time his Dad apologized to him, it wasn’t heartfelt and serious like this was. Jeff Tracy was a proud and stubborn man. Something all of his sons had inherited. To hear it was really nice. It meant that his Dad was actually listening. At least somewhat. Maybe Dr. Brooks was right about his family being willing to listen this time.

Not sure how to respond at all, Alan simply nodded. His Dad looked a little upset that he didn’t say anything, but nodded and said, “I want to make this right Alan. Please tell me how I can do that.”

“I don’t know.” Alan quietly replied. “I just don’t know.”

At that, Jeff lowered his head and ran a hand over his face. He had hoped that Alan would at least give him some idea as to what to do but at the same time, the young man was only 15 years old. What teenager knows how to fix him and his father? Maybe, he should talk to Dr. Brooks. Alan had had several meetings with her and though Jeff knew that there was doctor-patient confidentiality so she probably wouldn’t tell him anything, but maybe the three of them could meet or something once the Hood was caught. Maybe she could help.

“I know I’ve said it before, and haven’t done a good job at following through, but if you do want to talk, I’m here to listen.” Jeff said, looking back up at his son. Alan just nodded and stayed quiet. The parent waited a few seconds for Alan to say something, but when he didn’t, Jeff stood up and said, “Okay. I’ll see you later.”

Once he was gone, Alan picked his book back up and flipped to the page he left off, but he didn’t start reading again. His mind kept repeating his Dad’s words over and over. Did that seriously just happen? What even got his Dad to realize what he was going and make him say all of that? Was it the fight they had? Alan couldn’t really recall what exactly he said that day. Did Scott talk to him?

He hadn’t realized that he had fallen asleep on his big brother until he was shaken awake at 8 o’clock by him for breakfast. Alan hadn’t intended to go back to sleep after another nightmare of the Hood killing his entire family, but he slept a lot better during those two hours than he had the entire time they had been here. Scott didn’t say anything which Alan was grateful for. Though it wasn’t really a big deal, he had fallen asleep on his brothers multiple times in his life, he felt a little embarrassed about it. He wasn’t a little kid anymore.

However, he didn’t know if Scott told anyone about it. Since Alan didn’t think to ask his oldest brother to keep what happened and what they talked about to himself, he wouldn’t be under any obligation to keep it a secret. Alan had just kind of assumed that he wouldn’t, but with his Dad’s sudden approach and Alan remembering that he told Scott that he was going to forgive them made him wonder if the firstborn filled their father in on the conversation they had.

Putting the book down, Alan left to look for his older brother, which didn’t take long. At lunch, Gordon said he was going to go swimming, Virgil was going to check out Lady P’s extremely fancy grand piano while John and Scott said they were going to do some work in their rooms. And it was in his room that Alan found the former Air Force pilot, working on his laptop at the desk sitting in the far corner.

When Alan knocked on the open door, Scott looked over at him and with a smile, said, “Hey Sprout. What’s up?”

“Dad came to talk to me.” Alan told him, coming into the room to sit on the bed.

“Oh yeah.” Scott responded as he twisted in his chair so he could still see Alan. “What about?”

“He apologized for not having listened to me before and for not spending much time with me.” Alan said, his tone somewhat upset and still stunned.

“Well, he probably should’ve done that a while ago. That’s something all of us should’ve done and should actually do.” Scott replied thoughtfully. Then, seeing that Alan appeared to be really upset, he asked, “Why are you mad about it?”

“Did you make him apologize? Like, did you tell him about what I said this morning about forgiving you guys, so he thought that if he just apologized, I would immediately forgive him and forget everything that happened?” Alan questioned, becoming more and more agitated as he thought about it.

“No. No I didn’t. I didn’t tell anyone about what we talked about this morning.” Scott immediately denied, shocked at how worked up his baby brother seemed to be over this. “What gave you that idea?”

“The fact that I know you guys all meet up and talk about me when I’m not around. And that Dad never really apologized for that before and actually sounded like he meant it.” Alan answered, looking down at the floor.

“I think Allie, that Dad had always known that he hasn’t really been there for you. Hasn’t been the father that he should’ve been. He might not have said or done anything about it, but deep down, he knew.” Scott said very slowly, like he wasn’t 100 percent sure that he was right about his thoughts.

Bringing his knees up to his chest, Alan asked, “If he knew that, then why didn’t he ever do something about it? Why wait until now?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t realize how bad it was until now, or maybe he didn’t see how badly he was hurting you. Like, he thought that you were fine with how things were.” Scott said as he stood up and came to sit beside the blonde on the bed.

“There were times I was technically fine but,” Alan broke off, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand. Then he looked up at his brother with tears in his eyes. “I haven’t really been happy in a very, very long time.”

“Oh kiddo.” Scott whispered as he felt his heart break. Without thinking twice, he pulled the younger Tracy into his arms as Alan started crying. The brunette wracked his mind for something to say or do to make this better, but all he could think of was telling him that he was sorry. So he did.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry Allie. So sorry.”

He was sorry that he stopped taking of his baby brother. Sorry that he didn’t see that their Dad wasn’t being as attentive to Alan as he needed to be and didn’t talk to him about it. Sorry that he didn’t really stay in touch with Alan when he was at school. Sorry for bullying him and letting the others do the same. Sorry that he didn’t protect him form the Hood. Sorry for everything.

After a few minutes, Alan calmed down and pulled away from his big brother. Scott didn’t really want to let go. He wanted to hold the boy tight and protect him from the world, but he let him move. Alan would not take kindly to him not letting go.

Rubbing the remaining tears away, Alan said, “I should let you get back to work.”

“Hey. That doesn’t matter. You do.” Scott responded, running his hand through Alan’s hair. A skeptical look came upon Alan’s face but he didn’t object. He remembered the days when Scott and his other older brothers would stop whatever they were doing to spend time with him, but he had no recollection of his father doing that.

“What do you want to do?” Scott asked when Alan stayed silent.

“I don’t know.” Alan told him. “I just don’t really want to be alone.”

“Want to go see what the others are doing? Maybe we can all play a game or something.”

“Sure.” Alan half-heartedly agreed. He wasn’t really in the mood to actually do something, but it was better than nothing. Maybe it would actually cheer him up a little. So he stood up and made to follow Scott out of the room to get the others.

However, as soon as they reached the doorway, they froze as the sound of somewhat distant gunfire filled the air.


	11. Attacked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did it! I got the chapter done by Monday! Hopefully I will be able to get chapter 12 done by next Monday, but again, I make no guarantees. Hope you all like this chapter!

The Hood stood near the gate of Lady Penelope’s large estate, safe from the fire fight that was taking place in front of him. It didn’t take long after his arrival in England to find someone willing to hack into the secured files to find the aristocrat’s address. For a nice little sum of course. And finding some criminals willing to break into a billionaire’s house with the goal of taking whatever they wanted was child’s play. It only took a few hours to get everything set up and now here they were. He was finally getting his revenge on Jeff Tracy.

“What is taking so long?” The Hood asked the nearest goon when he realized that this was taking longer than he thought it would.

“There’s more security than we though there would be.” The goon answered, keeping his eyes on the task at hand.

The Hood frowned at that, but then an idea came into his mind and he said, “Keep their attention here.”

The goon who’s name that the master criminal didn’t even bother to learn shot him a strange look, but nodded and continued. After that, the Hood gestured to two other men nearby to follow him as he started to make his way around the building to enter in the back.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

The second they heard the gunfire, Scott grabbed Alan’s hand and practically dragged him down the hall. Neither of them even tried to go back and see what was going on. They already knew. As much as Scott had been hoping this wouldn’t happen at all, he knew it a was a possibility. They all did, which was why they had prepared for this.

After they had heard that the Hood knew where they were, Lady P told them about a large panic room that she had installed in her house in case the place was ever attacked and it was there that Scott was taking his brother. He didn’t know where everyone else was, but he hoped that that was also where they were going. It was the safest place in the mansion and it was what they had planned on ahead of time. Yet, as Scott and Alan got closer and closer to their destination, and the gunfire got louder and louder, they didn’t come across anybody else. His stomach clenched with worry and fear, Scott pressed on, needing to get Alan to safety before he could focus on anybody else.

As soon as they entered the library, Scott pulled away the books on the bottom shelf of the bookcase in the far corner of the room, finding the keypad. He quickly punched in the code causing the bookcase beside him to swing open, revealing a large, empty, grey room.

“Scott! Alan!” The two Tracy’s turned their heads to see John running towards them.

“John! Where are the others?” Scott asked as soon as his other blonde sibling reached them.

“I don’t know. At lunch, Virgil said he was going to play the piano and Gordon said he was going swimming but that was almost three hours ago. I haven’t seen them since.” John answered through his panting. It sounded like he had been running throughout the entire house to get here.

Scott looked back out at the door, hoping for a sign that the rest of their family, and Lady P and Parker were coming. There was nothing. He couldn’t even hear if someone was coming because the guns were still going off. How much security did Lady P hire? And how many men, or women, did the Hood bring to attack them. Of course, the main question that Scott had though, was if the security would be enough to hold off the criminal until the proper authorities arrive.

He reached for John’s arm to get him into the panic room where Alan was when he spotted another figure coming towards them. It took five seconds for him to realize that it was Virgil and another three to notice that he was alone.

“Are you okay?” Scott wondered as the doctor arrived.

“Yeah I’m fine. You guys?” Virgil questioned, looking them all over for any sign of injuries. Luckily he didn’t find any, but he didn’t like the look of terror on Alan’s face one bit.

“We’re good.” Scott replied, then looked back over at the door. “Did you see Gordon or Dad? Or the others?”

“No. They aren’t here?” Virgil asked, only now noticing that it was only them there.

“Not yet.” Scott told him worriedly.

“You don’t think something happened to them, do you?” Alan asked, the fearful expression on his face getting worse.

Scott stared at his younger brothers, then put his hand on Virgil’s back to gently push him inside the panic room and said, “Stay here. I’m going to go find them.”

“Scott no.” Virgil protested, grabbing his older brother’s arm to keep him from moving. Scott however pushed it off.

“Stay here.” He responded and without giving his siblings a chance to react, he took off running out of the room.

“Scott!” Virgil shouted and moved to follow the older brunette but a hand suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him back. He turned back around, his hand almost smacking John’s.

“Let him go. We don’t need you in danger too.” John told him, sounding completely calm even though he was feeling the exact opposite. He wanted to go after his only older brother and drag him back, but he knew that Scoot would fight him and he couldn’t just leave Alan and Virgil. Plus, their Dad would kill him if he left the safety of the secured room. He was already going to kill Scott.

So John pulled Virgil into the room and shut the door, locking them and Alan safely inside.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

When he heard the gunfire, Jeff shot up from the chair in one of the sitting rooms where he was working and rushed to the window to see what was going on. The only thing he could fully make out was a bunch of people in ski masks were shooting at the security detail that Penny had hired. They were doing their best to fend them off, but they looked outnumbered. However, Jeff didn’t see the Hood at all which left Jeff wondering if the Hood was actually in charge of this attack or if it was someone else. Did Penny have any enemies? She was a secret agent so it made sense, but she never mentioned anything to him.

Jeff only had seconds to notice all of this before he was forced to duck due to one of the bullets hitting the window. He expected the glass to shatter and rain over him, but it didn’t. It only made a loud cracking noise. He glanced back up to see dents and cracks from the bullets, but the window was still intact. It must’ve been bulletproof glass.

Though he wasn’t hurt, being shot at shocked him out his reverie and made him realize the danger he was in. His thoughts immediately went to his sons. Where were they? Were they okay? The panic room! That’s where they were supposed to go if the Hood ever did show up. That’s where his boys and Lady P and Parker would be heading.

Jumping to his feet, Jeff ran out of the room and down the hall towards the stairs. He was on the first floor while the panic room was in the library on the second floor. That was also the floor the guest rooms they were staying in are located. Hopefully that meant his boys were already there. Unless of course they weren’t in their rooms when the shooting started. Did they say anything about their plans for the day at lunch? They must’ve but the father couldn’t remember at all right now. What if they were in danger?

As he reached the base of the stairs, Jeff heard a familiar voice cry out, “Dad!”

Turning around, he saw Gordon, dressed only in bright yellow swim trunks and was completely soaked. The redhead was trying to run over to him, but was having a hard time because he kept slipping and would almost fall over. He must’ve just gotten out of the pool and didn’t have time to dry himself off. Jeff immediately went over to him, grabbing his arm to help steady him and asked, “You okay?”

“I’m fine. But what the h*ll’s going on?” Gordon responded, a tremor of fear in his voice.

“Someone’s attacking us.” Jeff answered as he started pulling him towards the staircase.

“I got that but who? The Hood?” Gordon questioned.

“Don’t know.” Jeff replied. He was fairly certain that it was the Hood who was behind this, but he didn’t know for sure.

Gordon opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, Jeff heard the back door burst open. Jeff immediately grabbed Gordon’s arm and pulled him into the door closest to the stairs, which happened to be a closet, and closed them in. He had no idea who had entered the house, but he doubted it was anyone friendly and there was no way they would’ve been able to get up the stairs and out of sight before the intruder saw them.

“What do we do now?” Gordon asked, voice full of fear now.

Wrapping an arm around his shoulder, Jeff said, “We wait.”

“What about the others?” The swimmer wondered, suddenly realizing that he didn’t know where his brothers were.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure they’re okay.”

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

As soon as the two low-level criminals kicked the back door open, the Hood strode into the building. He looked around the room and though he didn’t see anyone, he smiled. Glancing back at the men he had hired, he ordered, “Search the place. Bring everyone you find here.”

Shooting him a nods of acknowledgement, the two headed out to go through the house, leaving the Hood alone. Knowing that soon his other employees would be done with the security and would assist the two, it was only a matter of time before he finally got his revenge. Everything was going according to plan.


	12. Bunkered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, something interesting happened this weekend. My family, specifically my Dad and oldest sister are big space nerds and one of the movies they love is Apollo 13. They watched it all the time. I had only watched it all the way through once I think when I was very little, so I knew some scenes and the overall story, but that was it. Well, this weekend for our family, they wanted to watch that movie again, and I kinda did too, and low and behold, Bill Paxton, the actor who played the former astronaut Jeff Tracy in the movie the Thunderbirds played one of the main astronauts in that movie! I was very surprised and found that so cool that I thought I would share that with you guys. RIP Bill Paxton. I hope you all like this chapter!

Lady Penelope and Parker stood quietly in the barn several feet away from the mansion. Earlier they had gone to check on the horses, Penny was a little worried they’d start feeling a bit neglected as she wasn’t out riding any of them lately, and were still there when the shooting started. Before they could do anything though, they spotted the Hood and two masked man entering the house through the back door.

“Parker. Have any ideas?” Penelope asked, peaking at her home through the small crack from the barely opened door.

“Unfortunately, no milady.” Parker answered. “It might be better to remain here and let security handle it.”

“They seem to be outnumbered though. And if the Hood and those goons find Jeff and the boys, then they’ll have leverage.” Penelope pointed out. “We need to find a way to contact the authorities.”

“Do you not have your cell phone milady?” Parker questioned.

Penelope shook her head as she replied, “I left it in my room to charge it.”

The next minute or so passed in silence. Though it was somewhat dangerous, Penelope kept the door slightly open so she could see what was happening. The sight of her home being attacked and invaded filled her with a burning rage. And the knowledge that her friend and all five of his sons were still inside terrified her, not that she’d show it of course. Usually taking charge of difficult and challenging situations came easy to her, but there didn’t seem to be anything she could do. She and Parker were unarmed and even with all the security she had hired, they were outnumbered.

“Milady, might I make suggestion?” Parker asked, causing Penelope to look over her shoulder at him.

“Of course Parker.”

“The Hood and his men are focused on the house and security. If we saddled the horses and go out the back door, they won’t notice us at all. Then we can alert the authorities.”

“We can’t just leave Jeff and the boys alone with that monster.” Penelope immediately protested.

“Milady, we will need help and it appears we are the only two in position to get it.” Parker politely argued.

Penelope stared at him for a few seconds, then looked back at her house. She knew what the Hood was capable of. Had been on the receiving end of his abilities. And she remembered clearly what he had done to Alan only a few months ago. She was positive that the only reason he didn’t kill the boy was because he wanted something from him. Now, it appeared the only thing he wanted was to kill the entire Tracy family. Parker was right. They needed help and they were most likely the only two who could get it.

“Alright. I’ll go. You stay here and see if you’re able to help.” Penelope told him, finally moving away from the door.

“Begging your pardon milady, but I should go with you.” Parker responded. Penelope however shook her head.

“No. Jeff and the boys will need your help more than I will.” The blonde said, walked over to her fastest horse. A beautiful, chestnut Thoroughbred names Romeo.

Knowing that any further arguing would be futile, Parker went over to help her saddle the horse

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Alan sat in the corner of the panic room, staring at the closed door. John sat right beside him with his arm around his shoulders. Beside John, was Virgil, who was also keeping his eyes on the door. It had only been a few minutes since Scott had left to look for the others, but with every passing second, they got more and more tense and worried. Virgil wished he had stopped Scott before he left.

“Do you think they’re coming?” Alan asked, his blue eyes remaining locked on the door.

“I’m sure they are. Scott’s probably already found Dad and Gordon and Lady P and Parker and they’re on their way over here.” John did his best to reassure the younger blonde.

“What about… the Hood?” Alan hesitantly questioned with a terrified tone, causing John to tighten his hold on him.

“Security has most likely already dealt with him.” Virgil chimed in. “I’m sure any minute now, Dad or Scott or Lady P are going to come in and tell us that it’s safe to come out.”

Alan glanced over at the doctor, then back at the door. Despite what both of them said, there was no sign of anyone coming over. He couldn’t hear footsteps coming near them. He could barely hear the guns going off anymore. Either the fight was almost over or they were slowing done to save bullets. He was hoping that it was the former but knowing his luck, it was probably the latter.

As scared as he was, Alan was a bit confused. This would be the third time that the Hood had attacked him and/or his family and yet, he felt like he was shutting down. He was scared the other times, who wouldn’t be, but he never froze because of it like he was. He fought against him, resisted him. Now, he was practically cowering behind his brothers for protection. The last time he had done that, he was 10. What happened to kick him down to this point? He had been tortured and was still able to insult the criminal and keep from saying anything. Here, no torture was taking place and he was with his brothers yet he could barely keep himself from shaking with fear. It made no sense.

“Maybe I should go out and see what’s going on?” Virgil whispered to John, doing his best to make sure he could hear him but that Alan wouldn’t.

“No Virgil. We’re supposed to stay here until someone comes to get us. You’d only be putting yourself in danger if you left.” John responded quietly.

“But the shooting has pretty much stopped, yet no one as come up here. And I don’t hear any sirens so the police aren’t here.” Virgil pointed out.

“I know, and that means things are not going well out there. We need to stay here where it’s safe.” John replied. He understood where his younger brother was coming from, he wanted to know what was going on too, but putting themselves in danger wouldn’t do any good. Plus, there was no way he was going to let Virgil go alone or leave Alan alone here. He wasn’t able to protect his youngest sibling when the Hood kidnapped him and he was definitely not going to let that happen again. He would do whatever it took to protect Alan and all the rest of his family.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Jeff and Gordon stood against the wall of the closet with the door in between them, somewhat hidden behind the coats.

Once they saw that the Hood was the one who was attacking them and was now in the building, they struggled to figure out what to do. Gordon suggested that they wait until the Hood’s back was turned and they sneak out and get upstairs to the safe room but Jeff found multiple problems with that. The Hood could turn around and see them. They might run into the two goons he ordered to search the house. Or they could just end up leading them straight to the others. Right now, staying put was the best option.

However, they also realized that they were not safe where they were. There wasn’t a lock on the door, they were in a closet after all, and they were only meters away from the villain that was hunting them down. The best they could do was try to hide as much as possible. So they decided to stand against the same wall where the door was so when, if, they came into the tiny room, they wouldn’t be seen. At least not immediately. They then moved the coats to hide themselves even more.

Jeff felt like his heart was going to race out of his chest. Despite knowing that the Hood knew where they were, neither he nor Penny really planned for this. Sure they talked about it and agreed that if it did happen, they would run up to the panic room and call the police. That plan was pretty much out the window now. He and Gordon were practically stuck where they were and he had no idea where his other four sons or Penny were. He also had no idea if anyone was able to call for help. They were so screwed.

Hearing more voices, Jeff leaned his head closer to the door so he could try and figure out what was going on. He wasn’t able to catch everything that was said, but he was able to hear the Hood said, “search the house.”

That confused the former astronaut. He had already heard the Hood tell those two masked people he was with to search the mansion. There was no way they could’ve finished searching already. The house was massive. The only explanation was that he was talking to one of the other men that he hired, which meant they had finished dealing with all the security that Penny had hired for this very reason. Considering that he could no longer hear any gunfire only confirmed Jeff’s sudden realization. Before he could do anything about it, or even think about a plan, the closet door opened.

Jeff hesitated for only a second, just to make sure it was actually one of the invaders and not one of his kids or Penny or Parker. Seeing that it was indeed one of the Hood’s men, and that he was about to look in Gordon’s direction, he reached out to grab the man’s shirt and yanked him inside. Without giving him a chance to react, Jeff punched him in the side of the head as hard as possible, knocking him out cold. As he fell to the ground, he let go of the gun in his hand and Jeff reached down to pick it up.

Gordon stared at his Dad in shock and fear, then asked, “Now what?”

“Now, we wait until we can sneak out and get to the panic room. And now we have a weapon.” Jeff whispered back to him as he closed the door almost all the way, leaving an inch that he could peak through.

“What if they heard us?” Gordon wondered, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. He doubted he succeeded though.

“I don’t think so.” Jeff replied, looking to see if anyone was coming. He couldn’t see much, but from his line of sight, there was no one around at all. “In fact, I don’t think anyone is even out there right now.”

“You wanna make a run for the panic room?” Gordon questioned, seeing the look on his Dad’s face and realizing what it meant.

“I don’t know. I think we should. It’s better than just staying here. We’re too exposed.”

Gordon stared at his father for a few seconds, then nodded. He wasn’t sure about this, but his Dad had a point. They couldn’t just stay here. Plus, the guy that was just knocked out wouldn’t be out for long. As terrified as he was, it was their best bet.

“Okay, follow me. Do your best to stay behind me. Understood?” Jeff told him, using his ‘commander’ voice.

When the redhead nodded again, Jeff grabbed the doorknob and said, “Okay, here we go.”

The second he opened the door, he walking out with the handgun in both hands, pointing it at any threat that he could find. Luckily, he didn’t see anyone, not even the Hood. Not wanting to waste any time, he led his second youngest to the stairs and up to the second floor. When they got to the corridor however, they came face to face with another masked man who also had a gun. Before Jeff could do anything about it though, he spotted a familiar brunette swinging something and hitting the man in the back of the head, causing him to fall.

“Scott.” Jeff murmured in relief as he rushed to hug his eldest child, who immediately returned it.

Pulling away, Scott said, “Boy, I’m glad to see you guys. The others are fine. They’re in the,”

Jeff and Gordon turned around when Scott suddenly stopped and found the Hood with four other masked and armed men standing behind him. Smirking, the Hood said, “Oh no, please continue. I’d love to know where the others are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked this chapter! I will do my best to get the next chapter done and up next Monday but again, I make no promises.


	13. Failed Negotiations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Sorry this chapter is late! I got busy, then I hit a writer’s block. I rewrote the ending two or three times and ended up getting a headache. But I’m fairly happy with this chapter and I hope you guys are too!

Jeff stared at the Hood for a total two seconds before he pointed the handgun he was still holding directly at the man who was threatening his family, fully intending to shoot. However, quickly realizing what he was about to do, the Hood’s eyes flashed red and forced Jeff to drop the gun, causing him intense pain in his head as he did so. As the Tracy patriarch brought his now free hands up to his head, the Hood gestured to his men to grab that three men before they could try anything. Jeff didn’t put up any resistance due to the agony in his skull, but his two sons that the Hood believed were Scott and Gordon fought. Since his men had guns however, it wasn’t a problem.

“What’s this?” The Hood asked when he saw one of the men he hired pull something from Scott Tracy’s hand. The man handed it to him, then worked on restraining Jeff’s oldest son. Examining it, the Hood saw that it was a metal, fire poker.

Looking back at his men and hostages, he said, “Bring them down to the living room, then start looking for the others in rooms with fireplaces or near there.”

Jeff seemed to wake up from the spell when he heard that and immediately started struggling against the hands that were holding him. Scott and Gordon fought back with more strength than before but all it was useless. His men had already restrained them with the zip-ties that had on them. Within seconds, the three Tracy’s were being pulled back towards the stairs and down to the living room. Not wanting to risk them breaking free and attacking him, the Hood waited until they were moving and followed after them.

Once they reached the living room, his men directed Jeff, Scott and Gordon to one of the couches, then two headed back upstairs to search for Jeff’s other sons while the other two remained in the room. The Hood knew his powers were incredible and strong, but he would not be able to hold back three men. Two yes, but not three, especially if they were emotional. Emotional people were always harder to control. And the sight of guns were usually enough to intimidate most people into submission and silence anyways.

Jeff Tracy however, was not most people. He was stubborn and strong-willed man. An overprotective father and the bald man standing in front of him had threatened and hurt his youngest son, all of his sons actually along with his friends enough.

“So what’s the plan here Hood?” Jeff questioned, his rage barely contained. “Going to just round us all up and kill us?”

The Hood looked over at Jeff and with a smug smile, he said, “Not necessarily. I’d be willing to negotiate.”

“Negotiate what?” Scott demanded angrily.

“We’ll talk about that once the others have joined us.” The Hood replied as he started pacing in front of them.

Jeff could feel Scott tensing up beside him and knowing that he was about to say or do something stupid that would probably make things worse, he nudged him and whispered, “Don’t rile him up. Last thing we need is him being angry.”

“You think we should do nothing?” Scott responded in an angry, hushed tone.

“Until we actually have a plan that isn’t going to get us killed, yes.” Jeff told him, then looked over at the Hood. He hoped that the insane criminal hadn’t heard them, but he wasn’t even looking at them anymore. He had walked over to the window and was staring outside. It didn’t seem like he had been paying attention to them at all.

Scott stared at his father. He wanted to argue, wanted to tell him that they had been sitting around waiting this entire time and it had done nothing, but he didn’t. But he also knew his Dad had a point. They were completely at the Hood’s mercy right now. One wrong move and they were dead. Plus, if he started fighting with his Dad, they wouldn’t be able to keep it quiet and would get everyone’s attention which would also cause problems. 

To try and distract himself from the bald man, Scott turned his attention to the redhead sitting beside him. Gordon hadn’t made any noise or movement since they sat down and that worried him a little. The minute he could crawl Gordon was constantly moving and talking. It was a bit annoying at times but it was Gordon. Looking at him now, Scott could see that his eyes were filled with rage but his body screamed fear.

Leaning closer to him, Scott quietly asked, “You okay?”

“We’re going to get out of this, right?” Gordon whispered back, doing his best to keep his fear from getting into his voice.

“Of course we are.” Scott assured him and prayed that he wasn’t lying.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Inside the panic room, Alan leaned against John. It felt like they had been sitting there waiting for hours. With each passing second, Alan could feel his fear rise. He wanted to know what was going on outside. Where was his Dad? Where was Scott and Gordon? And Lady P and Parker? Why hadn’t anyone come to get them? He couldn’t hear gunfire anymore so the fight had to be over. Did the Hood win? Is that why no one had come for them?

“Where are they?” Alan asked when the silence got too much for him. Beside him, John tensed.

“They probably had to hide somewhere else.” John wished that he could’ve told Alan that the other members of their family were safe and that they were just cleaning up the mess made by the Hood and his goons, but that felt too much like a lie. It the Hood had been dealt with and everything was fine, someone would come to get them by now.

“I’m sure they’re fine Sprout.” Virgil chimed in when he saw Alan pale a little at John’s words. The youngest blonde nodded, but didn’t look like he believed him. Virgil then looked over at John, silently asking what they should do but John simply shrugged. He had no idea.

Silene fell over them again, but it didn’t last long. The sound of approaching footsteps suddenly started filling the air, filling the three boys’ hope with it. Soon, they could hear that the footsteps were right outside and the hope turned to fear. If it was their Dad, or brothers, or Lady P, or Parker, they would’ve opened the door by now. Would’ve called out to them. So would the cops if it were them.

“They won’t be able to get in here, right?” Virgil wondered, staring at the door.

“They shouldn’t.” John answered, also watching the door as he tightened his hold on his baby brother. 

The astronaut knew that odds were they’d find the keypad for the panic room. When Scott opened the door, he had left the books hiding it on the floor. It wouldn’t take a genius to know to look there. However, they didn’t know the code. Lady P had said when she showed them the room that it was all state-of-the-art and couldn’t be hacked. Of course, there was always a first time for everything, but John seriously doubted that the men the Hood had brought with him had the skill to do that. The Hood probably didn’t even know that there was a panic room.

The voices outside grew louder, clearly realizing what was going on and were not happy about it. They sounded extremely frustrated. Then, John, Virgil and Alan heard footsteps leaving, growing fainter and fainter until it was silent again. The three then looked at each other, a confused expression on each of their faces.

“Did they just give up?” Alan questioned staring up at his older brothers.

“I doubt it.” John responded, turning his gaze back to the door.

“Then what are they doing?”

“Looking for another way in.” The oldest blonde informed him, mentally trying to figure out if there was another way for someone to get in.

“But they can’t, right?” Virgil somewhat repeated his earlier question, his voice practically begged for assurance. John didn’t have time to even think of a response because at that moment, they heard footsteps coming back, more than what had left. Reinforcements.

John let go of Alan, stood up and said, “Just stay behind me.”

“But John,” Virgil started to object before John cut him off.

“Keep Alan safe.”

No one had any time to even think of a response before there was a loud crack and the door swung open. Two men in ski masks rushed into the room only a second later with guns drawn. They clearly weren’t expecting to see one of the brothers standing right in front of them which caused them to hesitate. John quickly took advantage of that and attacked the men, hoping to disarm them. Virgil, seeing there were two, also got up to help while Alan continued to sit, completely frozen in place and unsure of what to do.

The fight didn’t last that long. There were more of the Hood’s men right outside and the panic room didn’t have enough space to have a proper fight. John and Virgil were able to disarm the first two but then the third, fourth and fifth ones came in. At the sight of them, Alan finally felt adrenaline start flooding his body, forcing him into action. He got to his feet, ducked away from one of the guns and threw a punch at the man holding it. His body and mind went on autopilot after that, to the point that Alan wasn’t exactly sure what happened until one of the men had an arm tightly around him and felt the barrel of a gun press against his temple.

“I would quit struggling if I were you.” The man holding him told John and Virgil. They had also been grabbed and somewhat restrained but were trying to break free. The second they saw a gun against their little brother’s head though, they immediately stopped.

The two men that had been knocked down got up and, seeing their targets were neutralized, they pulled out a bunch of zip-ties from their belts and quickly tied the three young men’s hands behind their backs. Once that was done, they were led out of the room as one of the men said, “Let’s go. Our boss would like to have a few words with you.”

Alan felt his legs turn to lead. If it wasn’t for the person holding his arms, forcing him to keep moving, he knew he would’ve frozen again. Ahead of him, he could see John and Virgil shoot him worried glances but he did his best to put on a brave face. He couldn’t let his fear control him anymore. Not right now anyways. If the Hood saw how terrified he truly was well, Alan didn’t want to think what the psycho would do to mess with him. Or his family and friends.

Climbing down the stairs, they were pulled into the living room where Alan saw his Dad, Scott and Gordon pressed together on the large couch, their hands also tied behind their backs. Standing in front of them, with a creepy smirk on his face, stood the Hood, flanked by two other men in ski masks.

“Ah, Alan. And John and Virgil. So glad you could join us.” The Hood greeted as his smirk turned into a full-on smile. Jeff, Scott and Gordon immediately looked over their shoulders when the Hood spoke, fearful expressions coming upon their faces when they realized that their missing family members had also been caught.

“Come in and sit and down.” The Hood said and the goons led them further into the room. John and Virgil were forced onto a loveseat near the couch where the others were sitting while Alan was pushed down onto one of the matching, cushioned chairs. He was still near his family, but was closer to the Hood than he was to them, making him feel all the more separated and singled out.

Instead of focusing his attention on him like Alan expected, the Hood frowned and examined the room. “Where are the others?”

“Aren’t these all the Tracy’s.” One of the Hood’s minions questioned.

“Yes, but where is Lady Penelope? The owner of the house? And that short bodyguard of hers?” The Hood questioned, taking two slow, deliberate steps towards the minion who spoke.

“We haven’t found anyone else.”

“Well then, keep looking.” The Hood ordered, sounding a little frustrated with his hired men. They all nodded and left except for the two that were standing guard.

Once they were gone, Jeff looked over at their captor and said, “Okay Hood. We’re all here. Now what do you want?”

“Didn’t you hear what I said just a few seconds ago?” The Hood wondered, moving to stand in front of the Tracy patriarch. “We are not all here yet.”

“Lady P and Parker don’t have anything to do with this and you know it. Your problem is with me.” Jeff argued.

“Fair enough.” The Hood said, nodding his head. He then turned around, walked over to the window and stood silent for a minute.

“I must admit, a part of me truly does wish to take revenge against you all, some of you more than others, but I’m willing to let it go, for a price.”

“Name it.” Jeff told him, willing to do anything it took to keep his sons safe.

“I want the Thunderbirds.” The Hood revealed, turning back to face them.

Jeff tensed up at that. He wasn’t that surprised by the criminal’s demand. He had stolen their IR equipment the first time he attacked them. And when he kidnapped Alan, the ransom was the blue prints and schematics of the Thunderbirds. Jeff actually somewhat expected that that was what the Hood wanted this time. However, he wasn’t exactly sure why he wanted them. When the Hood had invaded the island, he told them he wanted to use the machines to break into banks and put the blame on them but was that still the plan? After that attack, the public was made aware of what happened. It wouldn’t take much for everyone to realize someone had done that again.

“What do you even want our machines for?” Jeff asked curiously.

“That’s my business Mr. Tracy.” The Hood replied. “So, what’s it going to be? Your precious Thunderbirds, or the lives of your children?”

Jeff stared at him for a couple of seconds, then asked, “How do I know that you’ll actually leave us all alone?”

“My word is not good enough for you?” The Hood actually sounded a little insulted by Jeff’s insinuation. He even brought a hand up to his chest as though he was wounded or something.

“You tried to kill all of my children. You also kidnapped and tortured my youngest.” Jeff reminded him, his gaze hardening into a steely glare. “What do you think?”

“I suppose you have a point there.” The Hood conceded with a thoughtful expression. “But I’m sure we can work something out.”

“I’m listening.” Jeff said, ignoring the worried and somewhat stunned expressions on his sons’ faces.

All five of Jeff’s sons knew that their father would do anything to keep them safe, but they also knew that the world needed the Thunderbirds. When the Hood asked for them in exchange Alan a couple of months ago, they were able to trick him. In this situation though, they didn’t know how they were going to get away with that. They didn’t want anything to happen to their siblings, but they couldn’t let the sadistic criminal take the Thunderbirds. The Hood might not tell them why he wanted them, but they all knew that it wasn’t for anything good.

Coming back to stand in front of the billionaire, the Hood said, “Well, let’s see. There are five Thunderbirds and six of you. Of course, I don’t need your space station, and you can’t really deliver it to me anyways. Which leaves four, although I believe Thunderbird 2 can carry number 4, the submarine. Which means that you only need three pilots.

“So how about this? I’ll let you, and you two eldest sons go, and the others come with me. I’ll then contact you with a location. You bring the Thunderbirds there and we switch. You leave with all of your children, and your lives, and I leave with the machines.” The Hood finished, clasping his hands in front of him.

Jeff finally glanced over at his children. He hated the looks on their faces. They were clearly trying to hide their fear and worry, but he could still see it. He couldn’t blame them. He was scared too. He didn’t want to take the Hood’s deal, didn’t want his three youngest to be stuck with him, or give him the Thunderbirds, yet that might be the only way to save his entire family. But how could he just let the Hood take his boys, especially Alan? His baby had suffered enough at the mad man’s hands. He couldn’t put him through that again. Yet, what about Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon?

He was saved from answering by the sound of something hitting the window. Everyone immediately looked over to the glass, but found nothing. There was no crack, no sign of anyone outside. It might’ve been a bird, but there was no sign of that either.

“Go check it out.” The Hood barked at the only two men he had left right now. They nodded and rushed out of the room. The Hood then looked back at his hostages. “I assume that would be Lady Penelope and her bodyguard. They have sure taken their time. No matter. It will make no difference. I will have what I want.”

“You sure about that? Your last two plans didn’t go very well.” Alan spoke up with a mocking tone. He knew he should keep his mouth shut, shouldn’t draw any attention to himself, but the sight of his family sitting captive, the thought of Virgil and Gordon suffering the same torture he had at the Hood’s hands filled him with rage.

“No, they didn’t.” The Hood admitted, moving to stand in front of Alan. Leaving down so they were eye level, he added, “And I have to thank for that. But I will get what I want this time. Or I will get my revenge.”

Before Alan could blink, the Hood had his hand around his throat and squeezed. He squeezed so tightly that the teenager couldn’t draw a breath. Dimly, he was aware of his family all shouting, probably begging the Hood to let him go, but he only tightened his hold. Alan felt like his lungs were going to burst and black spots started filling his vision. All of a sudden, chaos erupted.

He had no idea what was going on. The lack of oxygen muddled all of his senses. All he could make out was the sound of thundering feet, more people yelling followed by gunfire. Almost instantaneously, the hand around his neck disappeared and Alan could finally breathe. As he worked on getting air into his lungs again, he could now really hear his Dad and brothers calling out to him, but he didn’t pay them any attention. His wide-eyed gaze was locked on the Hood, who was lying on the ground by his feet with blood pooling around him and brown, lifeless eyes staring back up at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, probably not what any of you were expecting, but this was where I saw, felt and planned the story to go. If you guys are a little confused by what happened, it will be explained next chapter. I’ll try to have it done by next week, but no promises. Hope you guys liked this chapter! See you all next time!


	14. Back Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important note at the end of the chapter! Please read! Other than that, I hope you guys like this chapter!

Alan still as a statue on the couch, staring down at the carpet instead at Dr. Brooks who was sitting in her chair across from him. It had been nearly two weeks since the Hood attacked him and his family at Lady P’s. Two weeks since the villain had died and the nightmare had finally ended. Or at least, it should’ve ended. Despite his death, the Hood continued haunting Alan whenever he managed to sleep and even when he was awake. The bruises that remained on his neck didn’t help either. They reminded him of what happened every time he caught his reflection.

They didn’t stay in England long after the Hood died. Alan was still stuck in a daze and he didn’t snap out of it until he was on the plane that was taking him home. He didn’t even notice Virgil looking him over. When he did snap out of his stunned state, Scott explained what all happened. Apparently, Parker and Lady P were outside when the Hood attacked and while she went to go get help, Parker waited and watched until he saw an opportunity to aid the Tracy family. He was the one who made the noise that got the Hood to send his goons outside. And the chaos that happened was caused when the police showed up. They took care of the Hood and arrested the men he had hired.

“Is there anything you want to talk about Alan?” Dr. Brooks asked after nearly 20 minutes of silence. Jeff Tracy had filled her in on what had all happened while they were in England. He had been hoping that with the criminal dead Alan would start opening up and recover but he seemed to be getting worse.

“I don’t know.” Alan mumbled as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Alright. May I ask how you are feeling?” Dr. Brooks questioned.

“I don’t know.” Alan repeated, shrugging again.

“You don’t know how you feel?” The therapist tried to confirm. Wordlessly, Alan nodded.

“That’s completely normal Alan. You’ve been through a lot of trauma, and not just in the last several weeks. You are most likely still in shock and that’s okay.” Dr. Brooks informed him.

The teenager thought for a minute, then asked, “How long does shock last?”

“It depends on the person and the situation.” The doctor answered. “Everyone has different limits and breaking points. No one should compare someone’s trauma to someone else’s. True maybe the situations are different and maybe one is worse than the other, but the people are different too and can impact them different as well.”

“Is it wrong that I kind of like the shock?” The blonde then wondered.

Dr. Brooks was only slightly surprised by the question. It wasn’t the first time she had heard that from a patient. “You mean, the numb feeling?” Again, Alan nodded.

“No, it’s not wrong. Several people prefer feeling numb than dealing with pain, grief or trauma. However, it never lasts. Sooner or later, it’s going to go away and people will need to friend a way to deal with it.”

Drawing his knees up to his chest, Alan said, “I wish it wouldn’t go away.”

“That would be easier, wouldn’t it?” Dr. Brooks responded. “But just because something is easier doesn’t mean it’s better.”

Alan didn’t have anything to say to that. How many times had he heard that in his life? It seemed to be a point in every book, movie or TV show. And how many times did his Dad tell him that there were no shortcuts? He knew that his Dad and Dr. Brooks were both right, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. He doubted anyone did.

“I talked to Scott.” Alan changed the subject. “At least, a little.”

He expected her to immediately ask him about it, but she stayed silent. When he looked up at her, he saw a patient expression on her face. After several sessions now, he knew what that meant. She wasn’t going to ask for information right now. She was waiting for him to talk. And if he decided to not say another word, she would respect that. It was his choice whether or not he wanted to talk. Dr. Brooks had bee clear on that since the beginning. She said that she would ask some questions and try to offer some advice but she told him straight out that he didn’t have to answer or listen if he didn’t want to.

Deciding he wanted to talk, Alan said, “My Dad had come to talk to me, to apologize about an argument that we had earlier. And about how he wasn’t around when I was growing up or knowing me like a parent should.

“After that, I want to talk to Scott. I know that he, and my brothers all report to him anything that happens to me, or involves me. I thought that he might’ve had something to do with it. He didn’t. He said that he thinks Dad had always known that he wasn’t the most… attentive father to me, but he was only now realizing how much that affected me. I then told him how I haven’t actually been happy in a long time. I didn’t say for how long or give any kind of details though because he looked like he felt so guilty, like he thought it was all his fault that I wasn’t happy.”

“Telling him that you have been unhappy is still a step in a good direction.” Dr. Brooks encouraged.

“A teeny tiny step.” Alan responded.

“A step is still a step Alan.” She reminded him. She then leaned back in her chair and studied him for a minute. He knew that meant she was considering something so he stayed quiet. It was his turn to wait now for her to talk. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long.

“Alan, I’m fairly certain that you’re not going to like what I’m going to suggest, but I really think you should consider it.” Dr. Brooks waited until he hesitantly nodded, then continued, “I think we should have a session with your Dad and brothers.”

It took every bit of self control Alan had to not yell ‘no’. Seeming to realize this, Dr. Brooks said, “A lot of the problems you are dealing with Alan, have to do with your family. They aren’t going to go away until they know what you’re struggling with and how they had and are playing into it. They really should be aware of what’s all going on.”

“What if we just get into a fight?” Alan wondered meekly.

“I’ll be here to mediate. But I highly doubt that will happen.”

Looking down at the floor again, he mumbled, “I don’t know if I’m ready.”

“You want to know something Alan?” Dr. Brooks asked. Alan didn’t say anything but he did look back up at her.

“Hardly anyone thinks they are truly ready.”

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Jeff frowned a little when he noticed that the clock read 4:10 pm. Alan’s session was supposed to end at four but he hadn’t emerged yet. Sure there had been times that their meetings would go longer than the assigned hour, but never more than five minutes. It worried him a little but at the same time, he wondered if it was a good thing. Maybe Dr. Brooks had gotten his youngest to talk, finally. If so, then they could have all the time they needed. Whatever helped Alan heal. And since they were the therapist’s last clients of the day, there was no strict need to follow a schedule.

“What’s taking them so long?” Scott asked, also noticing the time. Usually only one Tracy would take Alan but the entire family had been feeling overprotective of the teenager. Even though the Hood was dead. So the former insisted on joining them.

“They’re probably still talking and just haven’t checked the time. I’m sure everything’s fine.” Jeff tried to ease his mind. He doubted he was successful though.

Jeff glanced back at the door that led to Dr. Brooks’ office, wishing for the millionth time that he knew what was going on. Alan had hardly said a word since they returned home. It was worse than when Alan got out of the hospital over a month ago and Jeff was clueless about what to do. It was like he had just shut down. They actually had to remind him to eat. If they didn’t, he’d just sit around in silence. Tintin and Fermat tried to help but Alan just wouldn’t engage.

After another five minutes, the door finally opened and Alan walked out, followed by the doctor. Jeff and Scott both stood up but before they could do anything else, Dr. Brooks said, “May I speak with you for a minute Mr. Tracy?”

Jeff looked over at Alan, then at Scott. The brunette gave him a quick nod, letting him know that he’d take care of Alan. Not that he needed to. His oldest had always done a good job of taking care of his younger siblings, especially his baby brother. The parent knew that Scott and Alan would be fine, so walked over to the doctor while Alan headed over to Scott.

“Is something wrong?” Jeff asked with a worried tone as he reached the therapist.

“Everything went fine, but I wanted to run something by you.” Dr. Brooks told him. When he nodded, she continued, “I think we should have a meeting with you and your other sons.”

“What?” Jeff questioned, completely confused.

“Throughout our meetings, Alan has revealed that there are quite a few problems that he has that I think we should all discuss.” She informed him.

“Well, then, why can’t Alan just tell us himself?”

“Because not only is it extremely hard for him, he thinks it will start a fight. Or that you won’t listen.”

Jeff sighed and ran a hand over his face. He couldn’t fault Alan for thinking that. Throughout most of his life, Jeff buried himself in his work and hardly paid Alan any attention. And in the last two or three years, when he did give him attention, it was mostly just to lecture, argue and/or ground him. He wondered how many times did Alan try to talk to him only to be ignored or yelled at. It was actually a little surprising that Alan even wanted anything to do with him.

“Did you mention this to Alan?” Jeff asked. If Dr. Brooks truly thought that this would help Alan, then he would do it but he didn’t want to blindside the teenager.

“Yes I did. He said he’d think about it.” Dr. Brooks answered.

Jeff thought for a minute, then nodded. “I’ll talk to my other boys. And if Alan’s okay with it, then that’s what we’ll do.”

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Jeff, Scott and Alan arrived home just after supper. Thankfully, Onaha had saved some for them. As was the new norm, Alan was completely silent as they ate. Scott tried to come up with questions for him, but the most the blonde did was shrug. Jeff didn’t try at all though. He knew that Alan wasn’t going to talk and he was still thinking about what Dr. Brooks had mentioned.

“May I be excused?” Alan quietly and politely asked.

“Sure.” Jeff responded. Without another word, Alan stood up and left the room, ignoring the worried looks his Dad and Scott were giving him.

Once he was out of sight, Jeff turned to his firstborn. “As soon as you’re done, fine John, Virgil and Gordon, then come to my office.”

“Is something wrong?” Scott asked, looking extremely concerned.

“No, but there’s something we need to discuss.”

“Okay, sure.”

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

A half hour later, Jeff found himself siting in his office chair, staring out at the window. The sun had almost set, filling the sky with shades of orange and purple. It was beautiful. He wondered if Alan was down at the beach, watching the sun dip below the horizon. If he wasn’t hiding in his room or in Brains’ lab with Fermat, he was down at the beach, usually with Tintin. It wouldn’t surprise him if his youngest was down there.

A quick knock drew his attention to the door just in time to see his four oldest children enter the room.

“Dad? What’s going on?” Virgil questioned as he moved to sit down on the couch. Scott and Gordon sat on either side of him while John went to the cushioned chair beside it.

Turning his chair around to face them, Jeff said, “After Alan’s session, Dr. Brooks came out to talk to me.”

“And?” Scott prodded when his Dad fell silent. He had been left wondering for hours now what his brother’s therapist had told their father now and he wanted to know what was going on.

“She thinks that we should all have a meeting with Alan and her.” Jeff revealed.

“Why?” Gordon asked.

“She says that a lot of Alan’s problems have to do with us and we need to talk about it.” Jeff explained to his second youngest.

They were all silent for a minute until John said, “Well, that makes sense. We all know that we haven’t done right by Alan in the last several years. And it would probably be better to have someone who’s not involved in the situation to offer some perspective. And keep everything from getting out of hand.”

“What does Alan think?” Scott asked. Due to how distant he had been recently, he couldn’t imagine the teenager being okay opening up in front of all of them.

“He told Dr. Brooks he’d think about it.” Jeff replied before he added, “I just wanted to see if you guys would be up for that.”

“Of course.” Virgil immediately responded.

“Yeah. Whatever it takes help Alan.” Scott chimed in. John and Gordon both nodded in agreement.

Jeff then nodded as well and said, “Okay. I’ll let Dr. Brooks know that if Alan wants to do this, then we’re in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, I have a bit of a problem and I need your feedback. I’m torn between ending the story with the next chapter and just giving a quick overview what all happens, or making the story longer and going into more detail. Let me know what you guys want. Next chapter will most likely be up in two weeks. See you all then!


	15. Brothers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, due to the feedback I got, I’ve decided to do more chapter rather than just writing one chapter to end the story. There will be 17 chapters in total. I hope you all like it!

Alan shifted uncomfortably in his seat on the small, private airplane. Today was another day heading back to the mainland for his weekly appointment with Dr. Brooks but this meeting was not going to be like any of the other ones. This meeting, all of his four older brothers were going to be joining them and Alan was trying really hard not to panic. He wasn’t having much luck though if the concerned looks his siblings were giving him were anything to go by.

The week after his therapist suggested having a family session, Alan had thought of barely anything else. At the next meeting, he decided that it was worth a shot, though he doubted his Dad and brothers would want to. But Dr. Brooks surprised him when she said she had already talked to his Dad, who later called her and, along with his brothers, agreed. If Alan was okay with it.

They then discussed how it be the best way to go about this and Alan quickly realized he wasn’t going to be able to handle them all at once. Dr. Brooks then suggested that he have a one-on-one session with his family instead, but the teenager decided that since all of the problems he had with his brothers were the same, he figured doing all of his brothers together would be easier. Plus, he didn’t really want to go over it again and again. He’d rather just do it once and be done with it. Now, another week later, here they were. On their way to Dr. Brooks’ office. Alan wondered if it was too late to back out.

A hand suddenly fell Alan’s clenched fist, causing him to jump slightly. He glanced to the side and saw Virgil, who was sitting beside him, staring at him. It took a second for Alan see the unspoken question in his eyes. _Are you okay?_ Wordlessly, the teenager nodded, took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. Virgil gave him a reassuring smile and moved to draw his hand back, not wanting to push Alan’s boundaries, but Alan surprisingly opened his fist and clenched it in the tight grip. Virgil shot him another smile and gripped Alan’s hand back.

In the row of seats across the aisle form them, Gordon watched the exchange with a pang of jealousy. Not that long ago, he was Alan’s go-to-brother. Well, sort of. If Alan was scared or something, he’d go to Scott or occasionally John. If he was hurt, he went to Virgil, but everything else, he came to Gordon. Being the younger two of their siblings, they naturally bonded together. They played together, pranked the others together. The older members of the family called them ‘the terrible twos’.

When Gordon graduated though while Alan continued going to boarding school, they started drifting apart. Especially in the last two years. It wasn’t until Alan’s abduction however that Gordon really noticed it. But he had no idea why it happened or how to fix it. He had tried when Alan was rescued, but he was pushing everyone away after that. Maybe in this meeting with the therapist, he’ll be able to find out what was going on and what to do.

“We’re about to land boys. Buckle up.” Jeff said from the pilot’s seat. All five boys rebuckled their seatbelts and the plane started to fly lower, getting ready to land.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

An hour later, Alan, Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon walked into Dr. Brooks’ office. Alan quickly took one of the chairs, not wanting to be squished beside his brothers on the couch. Scott took the other chair while Virgil, John and Gordon sat on the couch. The therapist quickly reintroduced herself to them as some of them hadn’t met her yet. Then the room fell silent.

“So, how does this work?” Gordon wondered when the silence finally got to him.

“Sorry, but the meetings don’t follow a plan or anything.” Dr. Brooks replied. “We just talk about whatever Alan wants to talk about.”

“Oh.” Gordon said, then looked over at his only younger sibling. However, Alan was staring at the ground, seemingly ignoring them.

Apparently realizing that, Dr. Brooks asked, “Does anyone want to go first?”

“I will.” Scott spoke up, causing everyone except for Alan to look at him. Scott didn’t pay them any attention. His focus was on his baby brother as he said, “I know that in the last few years, we haven’t been good older brothers. We pretty much ignored you, or bullied you. And I’m really sorry about that. We all are. I, we, don’t blame you for not wanting anything to do with us, but we want to help you. You’re our brother and we love you.”

The room fell silent again when Scott finished. Since John, Virgil and Gordon all felt the same way and Scott had included them, they didn’t really have anything to add. Except of course repeating how sorry they were. So they waited for Alan to respond. It took a minute, and he still kept his eyes down, but finally he whispered, “Why?”

“Why? Why what?” Scott asked, completely confused by the question. A glance over at his other siblings told him that they also didn’t understand what Alan asked. It seemed completely random.

“Before, when I was younger, you guys were always there, whenever I needed you, no matter what. Then I went to boarding school and when I came back, it was like…” Alan broke off as he felt tears start filling his eyes.

“Like what?” Virgil prodded, wanting, needing, his brother to tell him, tell them, what was on his mind. From the corner of his eye though, he saw Dr. Brooks shoot him a warning look and he forced himself to relax. Pushing Alan right now would not end well. They had to be patient.

“It was like you all, turned on me or something. Like you suddenly decided I was, that you decided want me want around, like I wasn’t your brother anymore. I was just an annoying, random kid who didn’t belong. I had kind of wondered if it was just because I was gone at school, but you all never treated Gordon like that.”

This time, the silence was caused by the four older Tracys’. The guilt that had been weighing on them ever since Alan’s abduction grew as they thought over his words. When Scott had told them what Alan said about how they had basically been bullying him, they all started wondering when exactly they had started. The entire time that had thought that it was just harmless teasing, teasing that they did to each other as well which they had been doing for years. Obviously somewhere that had crossed a line but despite how often they thought about it in the last several weeks, they weren’t able to figure out exactly when it happened. Now that Alan had confirmed when it started, they knew to think back to what was happening during that time.

“I think Alan, for me, it was kind of because Dad came back.” Scott started. When Alan tilted his head in his direction, Scott asked, “You remember how after Mom died, Dad busied himself with work?”

Alan nodded, but still kept his gaze down so no one could get a clear look at his face. Still, Scott continued.

“Well, when I realized how Dad was practically ignoring us, I tried my best to take care of you, of all of you. So did John, and then Virgil when he got a bit older. Then, Dad started coming back around more, but he was still a bit distant from you. So I kept trying to be there for you, but I then thought that maybe that was a mistake. That maybe if I wasn’t there, you’d go to Dad. That he’d remember you still needed him. It seemed to work but then you old enough to go to school with Gordon, and then John, Virgil and I started getting involved in, the family business.” Scott put more emphasis on his words so his brothers knew that he meant International Rescue.

“During that time, Dad finally came back to us, fully. He became our Dad again. I didn’t have to be the parent anymore. I got to be a kid again. I got to be a brother. So when you came home, and ever since then, I just…” Scott stopped, lowering his head and bringing up a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. “I’m so sorry Alan. I didn’t even think of how that would affect you.”

“But… did you blame me for that?” Alan asked, finally lifting his head to look at his brothers.

“No Alan.” Scott immediately responded. “It wasn’t your fault at all. I know that. I never blamed you. It wasn’t anyone’s fault really.”

Despite his age at the time and the situation, Scott never blamed anyone. Sure there were times he got mad and frustrated, but he knew it wasn’t anyone’s fault. His brothers needed someone to take care of them and their Dad was grieving. Everyone had their own grieving process, and it takes people different amounts of time to heal. Who was he to tell his Dad to get over it?

Alan stared at Scott, his blue eyes examining his face for any sign that he was lying. He didn’t see any. So he lowered his head again and waited for someone else to say something because he didn’t really know what to say. Thinking over Scott’s words, he could see his big brother’s perspective. It made a lot of sense. In fact, the only thing the former pilot said that didn’t make sense was the fact that he didn’t blame him or their Dad. It would be completely understandable if he did, but Scott had always been extremely mature in his thought process.

“It was a little like that for me Alan.” John chimed in when he realized that Scott was done and Alan wasn’t going to respond. “I had to grow up fast like Scott and do my best to help, not that I minded. But I missed simply being brothers then being a parent. Then at that point, I was off at college and working on getting in NASA. I was so busy, so I didn’t really see what was going on, I just assumed that since the others were, teasing, you, that you were fine with it.”

“Well, you weren’t really around to know any different.” Alan somewhat defended his only fellow-blonde sibling. Of all of his brothers, John was the most patient and the kindest. He was the one who teased him the least.

“And I’m sorry for that. As much as I love my work, I love you and the rest of our family more.” John replied. Alan turned to look at him and when he saw the sincerity in his eyes, he gave him a small smile.

Dr. Brooks watched the silent exchange for a minute, then looked over at Virgil and Gordon. They were looking back and forth between Alan, Scott and John, clearly listening to what they were saying but also seemed to be deeply thought at the same time. Considering what the others were talking about, she assumed they were also trying to think of their apparent sudden change of behaviour all those years ago but she couldn’t be sure. She wondered if she should prompt them to speak up now that the others had finished or give them a little more time to think. Not wanting to push if she didn’t need to, she stayed quiet. Only two minutes later, Virgil decided it was his turn.

“Um, well, thinking back on it now, I’m not really sure what led to us going too far with our teasing. But, with you not really being included, it was simply because we were around each other all the time, so we bonded. And Gordon wasn’t in school that long so he quickly joined us. We became closer. It had nothing to do with you.”

The youngest Tracy turned to look at the middle Tracy and asked, “Then why didn’t you try to include me when I was there? Sure, if you guys were watching a movie or playing a game of volleyball or something and you saw me, you’d ask if I wanted to join but any other time, you just treated me like I was a stupid kid who didn’t belong.”

Virgil didn’t have an answer for that. Was that really how they had been treating Alan? If they had, that was never their intention. Was their teasing actually that bad? Did Alan take all of their words seriously? He must’ve, but how could he actually believe that they thought of him that way? Was it really so bad to make Alan doubt how much they loved him? Looking at Alan’s face, he knew that the answer was obviously yes.

“Do you still feel that way now?” Virgil wondered, instead of answering Alan’s earlier question.

“I, I don’t know.” Alan replied. “You guys have been really trying lately to show me that you care, but I can’t help but think now that the Hood is gone and we’re all safe, that you’re all going to go back to treating me like crap.”

“I promise Alan, we won’t. Now that we know what we’ve been doing and how it’s been hurting you, we won’t do it again. Or at least, we’ll try not to. It will take some time, but we love and we’ll prove it to you, no matter how long it takes.” Scott vowed, resisting the urge to go over to him and pull his baby brother into his arms.

Alan looked at him for a few seconds, then over at John, Virgil and Gordon. He wanted, needed, to know if Scott was telling the truth and if the others agreed. They all seemed to agree with Scott’s promise, all seemed to mean it as if they had said it themselves. Alan wanted to believe them. He really did, but he wasn’t sure if he could. Only time would tell if his brothers meant it. He hoped they did. He wanted his brothers back, wanted to truly be part of his family again.

His gaze landed on his only redheaded brother when he noticed the swimmer’s eyes, filling with tears. “Gordon?”

“This was all my fault.” Gordon whispered.

“What?” Alan questioned as he mentally ran through everything he had said, trying to find what gave Gordon the impression that he alone was to blame. However, he found nothing.

“I’m the one who’s always making the jokes, doing the pranks. I’m the one who did, does, most of the teasing.” Gordon explained. Alan couldn’t deny that. He and Gordon had been really close when they were younger but when he finished with school and joined their siblings in International Rescue, they grew apart. And when the teasing and insults started, Gordon was the worst of his brothers.

“We all did it Gordy.” Virgil tried to comfort the swimmer, but he just shook his head.

“I was the worst though.” Gordon looked up at Alan and he burst into tears as he said, “I’m so sorry Allie. I never meant to hurt you.”

Hearing the words, the heartbreak so clear in his voice, Alan stood up and crossed the room. Crouching down in front of Gordon, he wrapped his arms around him. Gordon immediately returned the embrace, whispering apologizes in his ear over and over. John and Virgil quickly joined the hug, followed by Scott after he left his chair to come over to them. Surrounded by all of his siblings, Alan felt a sense of peace that he hadn’t felt in years. They still had a lot of work to do and a long way to go, but Alan knew that somehow, they’d get through this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, because the brothers’ reasons for teasing and the inadvertently distance they put between themselves and Alan were very similar, I decided it was easier to just put them all in one chapter. Plus, if I did it all separately, those chapters would be way too short. And, I think that since it was going to be hard for Alan to talk about it, he wouldn’t want to have to say it multiple times, hence having them all together. Hope you guys liked this chapter! Next, Alan and Jeff’s turn. See you all then!


	16. Father and Son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter after this! I hope you all like it!

Jeff stood in the doorway of the house, silently watching his five children playing a game of volleyball in the pool. It was still pretty early in the day, but it was fairly hot already. It wasn’t a surprised to find his kids in the pool on days like today. However, he hadn’t seen this sight in quite a while. All of his children, smiling and laughing like they hadn’t in years. It warmed his heard and brought a smile to his face.

It had been a week since they had their session with Dr. Brooks. Jeff wasn’t sure what they had talked about or what all happened, but whatever it was, it had made them all closer. They were spending more time together and Alan was slowly coming back out of his shell. There were still times that Alan seemed tense and hesitant around his brothers, but it was much better than before. And the other four had become far more patient and understanding of their younger siblings. It would take some, but Jeff had no doubt that they’d fully recover from the nightmare that nearly ruined their lives. Now, hopefully, he and Alan would be able to do the same.

“Alan?” Jeff called out as he walked over to the edge of the pool, causing all of his kids to stop their game. Looking straight at his youngest, he said, “It’s time to get ready to go.”

A nervous expression came upon Alan’s face and he visibly tensed, but he nodded and moved to get out of the pool. He then grabbed one of the towels that were lying on the closest lounge chairs before heading into the house to change. Jeff was about to head back inside as well, intending to prep the small, private airplane for their trip to the mainland when he heard Scott ask, “You okay Dad?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.” Jeff answered automatically. None of them looked convinced but seeming to realize what was on his mind, John said, “It will be okay Dad.”

Jeff didn’t say anything to that. He simply nodded and walked back into the house. However, he’d be lying if John’s words didn’t echo in his ears as he went. Though he hadn’t talked to any of his children, to anyone at all actually, he was extremely nervous for this meeting with Dr. Brooks. For the first time since Alan had started seeing the therapist, Jeff would be in the room with them. When he had brought his youngest child to Dr. Brooks, he had been hoping she’d be able to help him recover from his kidnapping, but he knew there was a good chance that they’d end up talking about Alan’s issues with his family. Jeff would have to be an idiot to think that wouldn’t come up.

He could easily imagine what Alan told her. That Jeff was absent. The he was neglectful, especially during his childhood. That he didn’t listen to him. That he prioritized his job over him. The worst part is, Jeff knew that Alan would be right about all of it. Deep down, he had always known that he hadn’t been much of a father to his youngest, but he was always able to distract himself from it, occasionally trying to fix it when the guilt became too much and Alan was with him. Now, he wouldn’t be able to hide anymore and he was terrified. If it helped fix his relationship with his baby though, he would do it. He’d do anything for him.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

“Hello Alan, Mr. Tracy.” Dr. Brooks greeted the parent and son as the entered her office, holding her hand out to Jeff to shake.

“Hello Dr. Brooks.” Jeff replied, reaching out to take her offered hand.

Quickly shaking his hand, Dr. Brooks, noticing that Alan had already sat down on one of the chairs, gestured to the couch and remaining chair before she said, “Please have a seat.”

“Thank you.” The parent responded, sitting down on the couch, the side closest to Alan. The therapist then sat on her own chair and looked at her patient and his father.

Like the meeting that she had with all five of the Tracy boys, Alan was all tensed up, his gaze on the floor, looking like he wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear. It was actually a little worse than with his brothers, which Dr. Mega Brooks wasn’t that surprised by. During her sessions with the young teenager, most of the problems he had confided having with his family were with his father. And Jeff, although doing his best to remain casual, was clearly just as nervous and tense as his son.

The next several minutes passed in silence. Unlike his sons, Jeff didn’t seem to have a problem with waiting for someone else to make the first move, which also didn’t surprise Megan. As a business man, he would definitely be able to figure out how to read a room, get someone to talk and knew when it was his turn to speak. With anyone else, she was sure it would work. However, Alan still remained quiet, apparently determined to make his father make the first move. And if he was just as stubborn as his father, there was a good chance not another word would be spoken at all this entire meeting, which would solve nothing. So, she decided to help move things along a little. 

“Alan,” the blonde flinched slightly at the sudden noise before tilting his head in her direction, still keeping his eyes down. Megan though continued, “is there anything you want to talk to your father about?”

“I don’t know.” Alan mumbled, causing Jeff to frown. The therapist let the answer slide and looked over at the former astronaut.

“What about you Mr. Tracy? Is there anything you wanted to talk to Alan about?”

Jeff seemed to have been completely thrown by the question as his only response was, “Oh, um. I’m not sure.”

Jeff winced when he heard out loud at how terrible his answer was. Though he was pretty sure what he and Alan needed to discuss, he wasn’t expecting to take the lead on this. This was Alan’s situation, his healing process. Plus, assuming he knew what was going on with his youngest wouldn’t end well. When they first walked in, Jeff expected Alan to immediately go off on him like he always did when they argued, and considering the situation, Jeff knew he had every right too. But he didn’t. He just sat there silently.

Dr. Brooks glanced back and forth between the two of them for a minute, then focused on Alan and asked, “Would you like me to tell your father some of the things we’ve talked about?”

That question had Alan’s head snapping up to look at his therapist. Her expression was one of gentleness and sincerity. He had never thought of having her tell his Dad his perspective of their many issues. It sure would be a lot easier than forcing the words out himself. But, if his Dad was going to get mad and start yelling, like he usually did whenever he tried to talk to him, Alan didn’t want him to do that to Dr. Brooks. She was just their ‘neutral third party’.

Seeing that she was still waiting for an answer, Alan said, “I don’t know. Give me a minute.”

“Of course.” Dr. Brooks replied. Alan again bowed his head as he thought while Jeff started to shift uncomfortably.

He hated this. Hated seeing his loud, confident and energetic son so quiet and subdued. It had been going on far too long and Jeff hated it. Until they worked through everything though, Jeff was positive that he wouldn’t see that boy again. Now, with the ball completely in the teenager’s court, there was nothing to do but wait for him to do something. Normally he could handle waiting, but this felt like torture. Like his other sons, he really just wanted to demand that Alan tell him what’s wrong and how to fix it. Unfortunately, nothing was ever that easy, especially with Alan.

“If, if I asked you something Dad, would you be honest with me?” Alan wondered, risking a peek at his Dad.

“Of course.” Jeff answered automatically, then immediately grew worried as to what he would ask.

“Do you, did you ever wish that I was the one who died in the avalanche instead of Mom?” Alan asked, surprising his Dad and himself that that was the question that came out, and so bluntly.

“What? No, of course not, no.” Jeff stammered out in shock and horror. “What on earth gave you that idea?”

Alan hesitated, wondering if he really should reveal the secret he had been keeping since he was three years old. However, since he already admitted a fear that he had been carrying for years, he might as well keep going. Plus, he knew that his Dad wasn’t going to let this go.

“You never came to see me in the hospital after the avalanche. And when I came home, you avoided all of us, but when you started coming back, you gave your attention to the others but not me. And as soon as I was old enough, you sent me off to school even though I was doing it online before. It was like you wanted to get rid of me.” Alan replied.

Jeff stared at him for a second, his shock growing before he said, “Who told you I never visited you in the hospital?”

“No one. I remember Grandma, and my brothers coming to see me but not you. I would ask them where you were and they either changed the subject or said that you were too sad about Mom to go anywhere.” Alan explained, those old feelings of confusion and hurt rising up inside of him.

“Wait, you remember that?” Jeff questioned. When Alan nodded, he added, “You have a massive concussion, a cracked skull. And you were only three, how do you remember that?”

At the young man’s shrug, Dr. Brooks chimed in by saying, “When it comes to trauma Mr. Tracy, people either forget parts of the event, the entire event or remember it with crystal clear clarity. And usually the people who do forget start to recall it later in their lives.”

Jeff listened to every word Dr. Brooks said, but kept his gaze locked on Alan. He had never, ever, even entertained the possibility of Alan remembering the avalanche of his stay in the hospital. The revelation was beyond jarring. Then to realize that Alan had been carrying around that knowledge, and the fear that his Dad wasn’t happy he was alive for 12 years horrified the parent. He had no idea how to fix this, but he had to.

“How much do you remember?” Jeff practically demanded. He didn’t mean for it to come out so harshly, but it did and Alan flinched.

Despite that though, he quietly admitted, “A lot more than you think.”

Jeff didn’t know what to say to that. Slouching down against the back of the couch, he ran a hand over his face. Of all the things he thought Alan would bring up, this was not it. He could only imagine what things Alan might remember that he had alluded to. Did he remember the avalanche hitting them? Did he remembered how badly his injuries had to have hurt? Wait, did he remember Lucy dying? Jeff hoped not. That would be too much.

Quickly filing those thoughts away for later, Jeff revealed, “I did go see you in the hospital. I went and saw you that night, right after. I begged you to wake up, but then a doctor came in and warned me that with the severity of your injuries, there was a chance that you weren’t going to make it,”

Alan slowly looked up and over at his father. He could hear in the man’s slightly trembling voice that he was trying not to get emotional, but he couldn’t really believe it. He had never seen his Dad get upset or sad. Worried, yes. Angry, most definitely. But he had never seen him cry or anything. Looking at him now though, Alan could see his Dad was fighting back tears and it made him feel awful. There were times when his own bitterness and hurt took over that he wished his Dad hurt just as much as he was. That was all gone now. He stayed silent though and let his Dad continue.

“After that, I just, just couldn’t. I’d just lost your mother and, being told that there was a chance I could lose you too, I couldn’t go down and see you. Couldn’t just sit there and hope you’d survive only for you to die. Couldn’t sit there and watch.

“Then when you did pull through, I could barely look at you, or your brothers because I’d be reminded of your mother and it would hurt, so much. In order to distract myself from my grief, I buried myself into my work. When I finally realized what I was doing, I tried to be better. A better father, to all of my kids, but I failed with you because out of all five of you, you are the most like your mother, in so many ways. And I felt so guilty for not being there for you for so long, and for not being able to save both you and your mother from that avalanche.”

“There wasn’t anything you could do about that Dad.” Alan interceded. “The avalanche wasn’t your fault.”

“When you lose someone you love, and when something happens to your child, you feel guilty whether it was your fault or not Alan.” Jeff explained, feeling a tear escape his eye and start running down his cheek. “And while I couldn't control the avalanche, I could control how I dealt with everything. I did a terrible job. I know that, and I’m so sorry Allie.”

“I know you are, and I do understand that you were grieving but…” Alan broke off, his eyes falling back to the stain on the carpet that he usually stared at when he didn’t want to look at anyone.

“But what?” Jeff said, trying to get his son to keep going.

“If you knew you weren’t being a good Dad, and you felt bad about it, why didn’t you try to change?”

Jeff thought quietly for a minute as he tried to compose himself. Once he felt fairly certain he wasn’t going to break down in sobs at how much pain his caused his son, he answered, “Because, when I finally realized what I was doing and I tried to do better, not only did you constantly remind me of your mother, I wondered if I even had a right to be your parent, after so much time had passed. When I finally got over that, we started fighting. A lot, and I just didn’t know what to do.”

“I just wanted you to be there. Wanted you to actually see me, listen to me, be proud of me and… and love me like my brothers.” Alan confessed, feeling tears of his own well up in his eyes and blinked them back as much as he could.

The father felt his heart stutter in his chest. How could he have failed his baby so badly? He didn’t just neglect him. He made him doubt whether or not he was loved, made him question if he was even wanted. If his Dad would rather him dead rather than his mother. All the guilt Jeff had felt over the years was nothing compared to what he felt right now. His tears came back and this time, he didn’t bother trying to hide them as he fell to his knees in front of his son.

“Alan, listen to me.” Jeff pleaded, causing Alan to slowly move his blue eyes to meet his father’s blue eyes. “I am proud of you, and I do love you, so much. Far more than you think, far more than you could even know. I’m so sorry baby. So sorry. And I’m going to do better, I promise.”

“I want to believe you Dad, but what happens once this whole thing blows over? You and Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon will get back into your routines and forget all of this. You’ll go back to how it was before the Hood ever entered out lives. Especially if I go back to school.” Alan wondered.

“That’s not going to happen baby. Now that we know what’s all been going on, what we’ve being doing and how it’s been affecting you, hurting you, we’ll be able to keep ourselves from repeating those mistakes.” Jeff told him. Alan continued to stare at him but didn’t respond. Bringing up his hands up to cup Alan’s face, Jeff continued, “I know you probably don’t believe me, but I’ll prove it to you. So will your brothers, no matter how long it takes. I love you and so do they.”

“I love you too Dad.” Alan whispered as more tears started running down his face. Jeff pulled him down into his arms and murmured in his ear, “I’m so sorry baby. I love you so much. I’m going to do better, I promise.” 

Alan didn’t say anything to that. He just let his Dad hold him as he sobbed into his shoulder. He told him the truth about how he had been feeling, revealed one of his deepest fears and his Dad didn’t yell at him, didn’t ignore him. He actually listened, then apologized and promised to be better. Only time would tell if his family would change but he hoped they would. Cautiously, as he didn’t think he could handle it if they let him down. He had been waiting for years for things to change now it might finally happen. Now, sitting here on the floor in his father’s arms, he finally felt wanted by his Dad, just like he felt wanted by his brothers last week. He felt loved, like he was truly part of the family for the first time in so long, and felt a weight that he had been carrying ever since his Mom died finally disappear.


	17. Okay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have reached the end. Hope you guys are ready and that you enjoy it!

Another week passed and Alan was back in Dr. Brooks office. It had quickly been decided that despite how much progress had been with the meetings involving his brothers and Dad, his sessions with the therapist will continue. This time it was just the two of them, though they were working on scheduling more sessions with the other members of his family, especially his Dad. And since the first sessions had broken the ice and awkwardness and squashed his fears of how they would react if he revealed his true feelings about how he had been treated, he was more okay with it than he would’ve been otherwise.

“How are you today Alan?” Dr. Brooks asked when it seemed that Alan had settled on the couch across from her.

“I’m doing alright. A lot better, actually. At least, I think so.” Alan answered as honestly as he could. “Things are still a little weird and awkward at home, but better than before. The tension from before is mostly gone, and my brothers and Dad really seem to be trying.”

“You seem a little surprised by that.” Dr. Brooks observed.

“I guess I wasn’t ever really sure that anything was going to change.” Alan quietly admitted.

“Do you still feel that way?”

“A little. I do want to believe that have changed and things will be better from now on, but I’m still… wary. Is that wrong?”

“Of course not Alan.” Dr. Brooks immediately replied. “You’ve spent years only getting positive attention when something bad happened to, and once they thought you were okay, they went back to ignoring and bullying you. It’s completely natural for you to be suspicious of them until they prove to you that they have changed.”

“Do you think they’ve really changed?” Alan wondered with a slightly fearful tone of voice.

“Unfortunately, no one can know for sure besides them. We will just have to wait and see.” The therapist responded.

Nodding, the teenager said, “Yeah, I thought that’s what you would say. Wish it was easier though.”

Dr. Brooks nodded in agreement but didn’t say anything. She waited to see if Alan wanted to add anything more or if she should change the subject. She only had to wait half a minute before Alan said, “They do really seem to be trying though, more than I thought they would be. My brothers are being extremely careful with their jokes, especially Gordon. I can tell it’s a little difficult for them but it is nice to see.”

“Well, that’s a good sign.” Dr. Brooks commented.

“Yeah. They also have been wanting to talk to me, a lot. Some times we do, but some times I don’t want to. I just feel too tired.”

“That’s completely natural.” She assured him. “You are still recovering from a traumatic event, and are trying to heal from several mental and emotional wounds. That’s going to be really exhausting.”

“It’s worse when it’s with my Dad.” Alan revealed. At her quizzical expression, he continued, “When my Dad and I spend time together, which had been happening more often in the last week, it’s just, has become so clear that he doesn’t really know me that well. I had always known that we weren’t close. That was extremely obvious but, seeing how little he does know makes me feel… like crap I guess. It makes me feel that I was right to believe I wasn’t really important to him. But then, I would see that look in his eyes that tells me he’s also realized how little he knows about me and he’s sad about it.”

“Your father may have admitted he made several mistakes with how he acted after your mother died Alan, but realizing how badly he messed up is probably really hard for him.” She tried to explain.

Turning his head to look out the window, he added, “I know it is, but it hurts a lot worse being the one who was ignored and treated like you don’t matter for years.”

“I’m not saying it’s not. I’m sure it was extremely hard and painful for you. And now that your is aware of it, steps can now be taken to fix it. It sounds like those steps are already being taken.”

“If the right steps are already being taken, and we are working towards fixing our relationships, then why is it so hard? And why does it hurt?” Alan questioned, looking back over at the therapist.

“Do you remember what I said a few weeks ago about trauma being like wound, but more invisible than physical wounds?” Dr. Brooks inquired instead of answering the blonde.

“Um, yeah, I think so.” Alan said, somewhat recalling the conversation.

“Well, think of it like that. The issues that you have been dealing with growing up have caused some serious emotional and mental wounds that haven’t been properly. In order to heal properly, you are going to have to reopen them a little, clean them out and push them to heal the right way. And that is going to hurt, especially since some of these injuries are so old.” She responded.

“What was I supposed to do?” Alan demanded, suddenly feeling extremely defensive. “It’s not like I could talk to my Dad since he never listened to me or paid me any attention. And neither did my brothers.”

Seeing the stunned look on her face and realizing how he sounded, Alan lowered his head and said, “Sorry. I don’t know why I reacted like that.”

“It’s alright Alan. Being defensive is normal given what you’ve been dealing with.” Dr. Brooks told him.

“Any idea when it’s going to stop.” Alan asked. “Because it’s really starting to get annoying. I hate feeling on edge all the time. Like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“Unfortunately, it will be a while yet. These kinds of things take a lot of time and work to heal.”

“I figured. It doesn’t mean I have to like it though.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“But it’s worth it, right?” Alan then questioned, sounding a little fearful. “Going through all this, I mean, to heal. It’s worth it, isn’t it?”

With a sincere smile, Dr. Brooks said, “Being properly healed and able to move on is always worth it, no matter how hard it may be.”

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Jeff waited patiently in the waiting room, working on his phone as Alan’s appointment drew to a close. Unlike other times, the parent wasn’t anxious at all. In the last two weeks, Jeff and his four oldest sons had noticed a major difference in Alan. He seemed more comfortable with them, and happier. There were still some struggles. He was still a bit jumpy when surprised and he still had nightmares, but not as many and he was letting his brothers stay with him at night like they did before the Hood had come back. Jeff knew it would still take some time, but it was clear that they were on the right path.

The sound of the door opening pulled Jeff’s attention away from his phone and to the hallway where the therapist’s office was located. As both Alan and Dr. Brooks exited the room, the parent stood up and made his way over them, saying, “Everything good?”

“Everything went well Mr. Tracy.” Dr. Brooks said with a smile.

“Good.” Jeff replied, then turned to Alan and asked, “You ready to go?”

“Yup.” Alan responded, coming to stand beside his father though he wouldn’t meet his eyes. While Jeff never liked that, it was completely normal for his son to avoid people’s gaze after his sessions with Dr. Brooks for a little while. So Jeff turned his attention back to the woman.

“So, I’ll be in touch with you about the meeting next?” They had been discussing having more meetings with Alan that included him and his other sons but hadn’t confirmed anything yet. He was hoping that they could make that work for next week.

“Sounds good. I’ll see you next week.” Dr. Brooks answered.

“See you.” Alan said. Dr. Brooks then gave them both a smile, then headed back into her office while the two Tracys’ started making their way out of the building.

As they got into the car that was waiting for them out front, Jeff asked, “Is there anything you want to do in the city before we head home? We could even stay the night if you’d like.”

“No thanks. I’m kinda tired. I’d rather go home.” Alan informed him. Expecting that answer, Alan always seemed drained after these meetings, Jeff told their hired driver to take them to the private airport.

Even though the Hood was dead, Jeff still insisted on having a security detail whenever he and his sons left Tracy Island. There was still a chance that the Hood’s old allies and members of his old empire could come after them and Jeff didn’t want to risk it. Plus, there was still the reported that they might have to deal with. They had been lucky so far, but the last thing they needed, especially Alan, was to be stalked by people with cameras and bombarded with questions about his kidnapping over three months ago. Hopefully by the time their lives returned more to normal the paparazzi will have found something or someone else to write about.

Silently, they arrived at the airport. Neither wasted any time getting on board and ready to go. Within minutes, Jeff had the plane in the air, taking them home. Glancing over at Alan, who was sitting beside him in the cockpit, he asked, “Do you want to take over for a bit?”

That got Alan’s attention, his head whipping over to look at him so fast that Jeff thought he neck might snap. Though he was only 15, he had finished all the training he needed to be a pilot a while ago. However, Jeff had never personally taken Alan out. It was either the licensed trainer teacher he had hired, or Scott. He was always to busy with work. Story of his life.

“Really?” Alan questioned with a stunned voice.

“Really.” Jeff replied, giving him a sincere smile. The smile that Alan returned was bright, nearly blinding. He hadn’t seen a smile like that from his youngest in so long.

Excited, the teenager stood up and crossed the small cockpit towards the pilot seat. Nervous, the father got up to let his boy sit down and take over. Once Alan was settled and had his hands on the controls, Jeff moved to stand behind him. The skies were clear and there was nothing but sea before them but Jeff was still a bit worried. Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon had all complained about him being a backseat-flyer and driver but he couldn’t really help it. He liked being the one in control.

Noticing his hovering, Alan said, “I got this Dad, don’t worry.”

“Just, let me know if there’s any trouble or if you have any questions.” Jeff told him, forcing himself to take Alan’s old seat.

“I will.” Alan promised with a twinkle in his eyes before turning all of his attention back on the task at hand.

Not wanting Alan to think he didn’t trust him, Jeff didn’t say another word about his flying. In fact, he didn’t have to. Alan was doing a great job. That shouldn’t have surprised him. With the exception of Gordon, all of the Tracy’s loved flying. Air was their natural element. It was something that had been passed down in the family. It made sense that Alan would be the same.

“You’re doing a good job.” Jeff commented.

Glancing at him from the corner of his eyes, Alan asked, “Then why are you so tense?”

“I’m always tense whenever my kids are at the wheel.” Jeff explained.

“You not going to be happy when I start driving, are you?” Alan assumed.

“Oh my word, you’re doing to be driving soon. I’m getting old.” Jeff muttered in shock, just loud enough for the blonde to hear.

“You just realized that?” Alan wondered with a wide grin.

Shoot him a mock-glare, Jeff said, “Watch it or you’re grounded.”

Alan laughed, then turned his attention back to the air. Jeff however, stared at him. He couldn’t remember the last time Alan laughed, let alone at anything he said or did. Had he ever done that since Lucy died? Or was it just his brothers and friends who got him to laugh? That made the parent feel a mixture of both happy and sad. One thing that had become crystal clear to him over the last week was just how little he knew and knew about his youngest child. He had been trying to do better, and will continue to do better, but he was worried that too much time had passed, that he had caused too much damage with his neglect of him.

“I have an idea.” Jeff spoke up after a minute of thought. When Alan looked back over at him, he continued, “It’s been a long time since you, me and your brothers have done something altogether. How about we do something tonight?”

“Don’t you have to work?” Alan questioned.

“Work can wait.” Jeff said, then quickly added, “And maybe, sometime soon, you and I can go do something, somewhere, just the two of us.”

“Seriously?” Alan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had never had any real, one-on-one time with his Dad before. The former astronaut was always too busy.

“Seriously.” Jeff confirmed. “I know I haven’t shown it but, you and your brothers are the most important thing to me in my life. And it’s time I proved that, especially to you.”

“That sounds really good Dad.” Alan whispered, feeling tears prickle the corners of his eyes.

Jeff gave him a sincere smile, then said, “Now, eyes back on the steering yoke. I don’t feel like crashing in the ocean today.”

Alan chuckled but did as he was told.

**TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB**

Late that night, Alan laid half-asleep on the couch, his head pillowed on his Dad’s chest. The movie credits wear rolling on the screen but he didn’t move. Neither did any of his brothers, who were sprawled out on the floor, the other couch and chair.

When they got home from Alan’s appointment, Jeff and Alan told Scott, John, Virgil and Gordon about having a family night. The four other Tracys immediately agreed. It took some debating about what they should do before they decided to watch a movie. Then they argued about what movie to watch. In order to put an end to it, they ultimately agreed to three different movies to watch. They had now just finished the second movie and was past midnight.

“Ready for the next one?” Scott asked from his spot on the cushioned chair.

“Only if you put it in. I’m so tired I don’t think I can move.” Gordon answered.

“Maybe we should call in a night, continue some other time.” John suggested, seeing that not only were they all exhausted, but Alan was almost fully asleep.

Shaking his head, Alan mumbled, “No. I’m fine. We can keep going.”

“Allie, it’s okay.” Virgil told him.

“No. I wanna keep watching.” Alan responded more forcefully. Wordlessly, all the other Tracys looked at each other, then back at their youngest member.

“Are you trying to avoid going to sleep Sprout?” Scott questioned, leaning forward in his chair.

“Don’t want to sleep. Nightmares.” Alan quietly revealed. That didn’t surprise anyone. They all knew about Alan’s nightmares and were beginning to wonder if he was starting to purposely stay up in order to avoid them.

Wrapping his arms around him tightly, Jeff said, “It’s okay baby. You can sleep. We’ll be right here.”

“Promise?” Alan whispered, his eyes closed. Jeff watched him for a minute, then glanced over at his other children.

His four oldest sons stared at the two of them. They all knew they still had problems to work through. They also knew that soon they’d have to discuss Alan returning to school and the Thunderbirds, but that of course can and will wait until Alan is ready. Until then, Jeff knew that they’d all be here for him this time. It would still take some time, a lot of work and a lot of patience, but they could do this.

“We promise Alan.” Jeff told him. Alan blinked up at him, then at his brothers. Seeing the sincerity in their eyes, he closed his own eyes and started to fall asleep. He was safe now. He would be okay. They would all be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that officially ends this story and this little series! Thank you to everyone for all the love and support! I hope you all enjoyed it!


End file.
